


Don't Ask About the Boss' Past

by Tsilky



Category: Saints Row
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Smut, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:49:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 31,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26442229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsilky/pseuds/Tsilky
Summary: Kidnapping a Saint in Stilwater was a one way ticket to Hell. Kidnapping one of the Boss' Lieutenant's had the same outcome, but with a lot more pain.Veteran Child settles on the bright idea of kidnapping Shaundi, earning the leader of the Saints' full attention. He quickly learns why the Boss deserves her reputation, and learns more than he bargains for about her past.Constantly needing saving has always annoyed Shaundi, but this time is different. Something about the way the Boss is acting is different, and Shaundi intends to find out if she's right about why. She hopes she is.
Relationships: Female Boss/Shaundi (Saints Row)
Kudos: 37





	Don't Ask About the Boss' Past

**Author's Note:**

> Forewarning;  
> This gets pretty dark around the middle of it, easily the darkest thing I've ever written.  
> The smut tag also has nothing to do with the other tags, it's all about the last section. Also the first smut I've ever written fully.

**Purgatory, Stilwater**

**2:00pm**

The elevator dinged open, shaking the Boss from her thoughts. The Saints were getting ever closer to what they had been five years ago, but there was still a way to go.

The Ronin were finished, her and Johnny had made sure of that. Shogo Akuji was rotting beneath the ground where they’d buried him alive for daring to even think of interrupting Aisha’s funeral, even if said funeral was fake. The Boss herself had stabbed Kazuo Akuji through the back with his own sword, leaving him to burn to death on the boat.

The Brotherhood could wait. Maero had made it clear that he had no problem sharing Stilwater with the Saints. That had just made it easier for the Saints to focus on the other gangs, knowing they could deal with The Brotherhood when the Boss felt the time was right and they had no other distractions.

The Sons of Samedi were their main focus for the time being. Taking out their drug runners and generally making it hard for them to continue to do business was a good start, but they needed something bigger if what the Boss had planned for them was to truly come to fruition. They needed to take over the Samedi’s drug business, and start making that money for themselves. Complete and utter destruction of the rival gang was the only thing she would settle for. Anything less was unacceptable. The Boss would take Stilwater back completely or die trying. And she had no intention of dying any time soon.

“Nice place you got here Shaundi.” A voice the Boss didn’t know.

“What are you doing here?” The far-off echo of Shaundi’s voice made it back to the Boss, immediately drawing one of the pistols strapped to her thighs and creeping forward. Her Lieutenant had a slight fearful tinge to her voice, the Boss almost certain Shaundi wasn’t talking to a Saint. Unfortunately, there would be almost no Saint actually within Purgatory aside from Shaundi herself. It was the middle of the day, and most would be out on the streets making money or stirring up trouble.

“I’ve been watching this place; I know you’re here alone.” The Boss moved a little faster. He was definitely threatening Shaundi.

“Not for long I'm not, so you better get the f-”

“Don’t make this difficult.” The distinct sound of a pistol being cocked. A soft sound and the noise of a scuffle, “Bitch!” The loud slamming of something on a table had the Boss break out into a run, finally coming into view of the main area of Purgatory. A man with terrible taste in headwear gathered an almost-unconsciousness Shaundi in his free arm, the Lieutenant barely able to support her own weight as he began to half drag her towards the large stairs.

Veteran Child, one of the Sons of Samedi’s Lieutenants.

He almost immediately saw the Boss moving down the stairs, raising up the pistol in his hand and firing two rounds at her. She ducked down behind the balustrade, avoiding getting shot.

“Back off! BACK THE FUCK OFF!” Veteran Child slowly moved up the stairs with Shaundi in tow, keeping his weapon trained on the Boss the entire time.

“This is a very bad idea for you.” The Boss’ soft French accent was threatening, telling him exactly what she meant to do if he continued on this particular course of action, “You really think I'm going to let you walk out of here?”

He didn’t seem to note her tone, or at least didn’t take her seriously. This was going to end badly for him no matter what, “Unless you want a bullet in this bitch, you’re goddamn right I am.”

“Kid, I'm going to give you one chance-” As the Boss was lining up the shot, Veteran Child fired again, shattering the stone of the handrail above her and forcing her back down, “Merde!”

“You know who the fuck I am?”

The Boss grit her teeth and began to inch further up the stairs, “Seeing as I'm gonna kill you in a few seconds, I really don’t give a fuck.” She made it to the top of the stairs, just as Shaundi and her kidnapper made it up the second flight. The Boss pulled her second GDHC .50 free, aiming both at the two of them. She couldn’t see a clear shot, Veteran Child keeping his head behind Shaundi’s as much as possible. She couldn’t shoot Shaundi.

“Keep your distance!” The Boss ignored him, starting up the second set of stairs. Abruptly, his gun moved up, firing several rounds into the ceiling.

She took the chance, closing most of the distance towards him, before finally looking up and seeing what he had been shooting at. A large chandelier plummeted towards her, the Boss leaping backwards out of the way and just barely missing getting crushed beneath it.

The Boss was back on her feet in barely a few seconds, charging after Shaundi and her kidnapper. She came around the corner to see the elevator doors closing, pulling up both pistols and firing towards the metal surfaces. She deliberately missed both occupants, not even considering risking hitting Shaundi even if she could’ve hit Veteran Child.

Her shoulder slammed into the doors as they closed, pushing the call button as fast as she could. She heard the tell-tale sign of the elevator moving, spinning on her heel and sprinting out the stairs entrance to the underground Saints headquarters.

The Boss cursed the labyrinthine warrens that took her back to the surface. She shouldered her way through the door just as the green Sons of Samedi car was accelerating away. She ran after it, firing round after round into the wheel base, attempting to pop one of the tires. It turned onto the street and disappeared from her sight, the Boss not giving up for a second.

She burst onto the street, only to see the car at least a hundred metres away and moving out of sight faster with every passing second.

“FUCK!” The Boss screamed the curse into the sky, breathing hard. She was pissed.

Her phone began to ring, pulling it from her pocket and seeing Shaundi’s number. She answered, hoping it was Shaundi having somehow broken free, but she knew that wouldn’t be the case. She got her answer when Veteran Child’s annoying voice came through the line, “ _If you wanna see Shaundi again, you better come to Cocks._ ”

“Listen here you little shit. I’m going to rip your fucking-” The line went dead. The Boss almost crushed her phone in her hand, instead shoving it roughly back into the pocket of her tight pants, breaking into a run back towards Purgatory.

The Boss was in her custom purple Hammerhead within a few minutes, almost breaking through the door with the speed she exited the garage. She pulled out her phone, dialling Pierce’s number.

“ _Hey Boss, what’s_ -”

“Pierce, shut the fuck up and listen. Veteran Child kidnapped Shaundi and he’s trying to get me to meet him at Cocks.”

“ _Shit. You think it’s a trap?_ ”

The Boss would’ve laughed if she wasn’t almost the angriest she’d ever been, “Seeing as I'm planning to kill every motherfucker in the bar, I’ll feel bad if it’s not. While I go there, you find any other places he might take her. Got it?”

“ _I’m on it._ ” The line clicked off.

The Boss broke at least three laws swerving out onto the road, slamming her foot to the floor and breaking the speed limit within two seconds. The muscle car flew through the streets of Stilwater, cars just barely avoiding its path. Her phone began to ring again. Shaundi’s number.

“If you lay one hand on her...”

Veteran Child laughed on the other end of the call, “ _You think I'm scared of you?_ ”

“No. But that’s only cause you’re a fucking idiot. I see why Shaundi dumped your ass.”

He seemed to scoff at her insult, “ _You can’t talk to the triple platinum Veteran Child like that!_ ”

“You don’t get it do you?” The Boss’ mind filled with all the plans she had for the DJ once she got her hands on him, “Talk all the shit you want. Because when I find you, the only thing you’ll be doing is begging for mercy.”

She heard him swallow and that finally brought a small grin to her lips. He just managed to get his voice under control, “ _We’ll see about that, won’t we?_ ”

The grin faded as the bar came into view down the street. Her eyes quickly scanned the street around it, seeing no sign of Veteran Child’s car or the man himself. Definitely a trap, but she needed to release some pent-up rage, and this was as good a way as any of doing it.

The tires smoked as she slammed on the breaks, spinning the car in a 180 degree turn and stopping on the sidewalk. Pedestrians went running the moment they saw who was at the wheel, the citizens of Stilwater knowing by now to get away from the leader of the Saints as quickly as they could. It always ended badly for anyone who dared to stand in her way.

The Boss climbed out, opening the trunk of the car and retrieving her Tombstone, inspecting the shotgun for a moment before loading a shell into the chamber. She attached a strap to it, slipping an arm and her head through it, the weapon hanging easily. A shoulder bag came next, filled to the brim with ammunition for both shotgun and the pistols in her thigh-holsters. The trunk slammed close, the Boss marching towards the front door. She didn’t even break her stride as she came toward it, bringing one foot up and kicking the door open as hard as she could.

“Bonjour Sons of Samedi!” The shotgun fired, hitting the closest Sons of Samedi in the gut, sending him crashing into the wall. He slowly slid down, leaving a long bloody streak on it. The rest of the gang members dove into cover, some ducking behind the bar and others flipping over tables, “Could one of you tell me where I can find Veteran Child, s’il vous plaît?”

They all immediately open fire as soon as she finished her sentence, the Boss spinning to hide around the corner. She turned to face the wall, waiting for the opportunity. It came, coming out of cover just long enough to fire twice, one gang member’s head disappearing, while another’s arm was torn off and torso partially shredded. Bullets flew her way once more, dropping to the floor and rapidly closing the distance to the end of the bar.

She ducked beneath the gap at the end, coming face to face with a Sons of Samedi. His pistol was on its way down, but the Saint was too fast. The butt of her shotgun whipped around, crashing into his jaw and sending several teeth flying from his mouth. His pistol went skittering across the floor, cradling his shattered mouth. The Boss grabbed him, turning him around and using him as a human shield. The other two gang members behind the bar hesitated for just a second too long, quickly met with grizzly fates as the full brunt of a shotgun blast met their chests.

The Boss’ shield was soon riddled with bullets, just barely clinging to life. She let go of him, spinning his body till he faced her, smiling as she placed the barrel of her weapon right over his heart. She pulled the trigger, carving a hole straight through him. A small spray of blood came back to splash onto her face and chest, the Boss ignoring it and ducking behind the bar again.

Only two shells left in her weapon, the Saint’s leader crept along behind the bar, bottles above her shattering as a hail of bullets sent liquor spilling onto the ground. By her estimate, there were five Sons of Samedi left, too spread out to take down with just the two shells in her shotgun, and likely no time to reload. Her pistols would have to finish the job.

Before she could think of her next move, a bullet impacted right near her head, her eyes whipping to find the source. A shattered window high up on wall, a Sons of Samedi with her pistol aiming directly for her. The Boss narrowly missed the next bullet, feeling it whip by her ear. Her shotgun wouldn’t kill her at this range. The Saint let go of the larger weapon, keeping herself a moving target and pulling one pistol free and firing before the woman could get another shot off.

The Boss let off three rounds from her pistol, all three finding their marks in the Sons of Samedi’s chest. The green-clad woman staggered on her feet for a second, her pistol falling from her hands before her entire body pitched forward, falling to the ground below and taking the rest of the window with her. There was a satisfying crunch of glass and bone as she landed that brought a smile to the Boss’ face.

A tiny break in fire was all the Boss needed, filling her other hand with her second pistol and surging to her feet. Her eyes found three targets, each pistol tracking to a different one and firing. They both went down, crying out as the bullets cut through their chest. The last one fired his pistol, just barely grazing the Boss’ deltoid. She grunted with the pain, aiming both pistols at him. He tried to fire again, only met with a click.

“Unlucky.” The Saint emptied both weapons into his chest, leaving barely a shed of green of the shirt he was wearing that wasn’t stained crimson. She glanced around at the now silent bar. Every Sons of Samedi that she could see was either dead or bleeding out on the ground. Patrons that had been unlucky enough to be enjoying a drink in this particular establishment were all dead from the crossfire. She knew there was one last Samedi member left, she’d seen them. “Come out, come out, wherever you are. Tell me where Veteran Child is and I don’t kill you.” She was certain they knew she was lying, but maybe they were stupid enough to believe those words. She stepped over the body of the bartender, coming out from behind the bar. She slowly reloaded her pistols, rebolstering them on her thighs before bringing her Tombstone back up to press into her shoulder.

The Boss heard the whistle just in time, ducking to one knee and pivoting to face her attacker. The baseball bat swung clear over her head, avoiding any sort of injury. The Sons of Samedi looked down at the Saint, his face going pale as she pressed the shotgun directly into his stomach. She pulled the trigger, shredding his abdomen apart. He fell onto the ground, lifting his head and looking down at the red mess that was left of his gut.

“I will say, that was a pretty good try.” The Boss rose to her feet, pushing the Tombstone between the man’s eyes. “We can do this one of two ways. You tell me where Veteran Child is, you die quickly. You don’t and you die slowly. Painfully.”

His response came out as a pained gurgle, blood seeping out onto the ground and evidently working its way up his oesophagus as well, “He’s not here. I don’t know where he is. Please…”

The Boss raised an eyebrow. That hadn’t been what she was expecting. Whenever she’d had a rival gang member like this before, they’d told her to fuck off, or at least some variant of that phrase. She was inclined to believe him, “Well… that’s unfortunate.” She pulled the trigger one last time, shattering his skull apart and leaving the bone and brains it contained to spatter out onto the floor.

Cocks had been a trap, just like she knew it would be. She needed to find out where Veteran Child really was. She wasn’t going to lose Shaundi, she couldn’t. Not like she’d already lost Aisha barely a couple of months ago, and Lin five years ago. As heartless as she seemed to everyone who ever came up against her, and with how much of a sociopath she actually was, no matter how much she denied it, even the Boss had her limits. And losing Shaundi would send her over the edge, likely burning Stilwater down with her.

The Boss slammed the front door of the bar open, coming out onto the street to the surprise of several pedestrians. They’d been slowly approaching the bar once the shooting had died down, but seeing the leader of the Saints emerge, blood spattered over her chest and partly on her face was enough to reason to run away again. She could hear police sirens in the distance. She didn’t have time to fight them or call through to the precinct to get them to back off. She quickly hopped in the driver seat of her Hammerhead, throwing the Tombstone and bag of ammunition into the back behind the two seats.

Pierce answered within a second of her call, “Cocks was a trap like we thought, but Shaundi and Veteran Child aren’t here. Tell me you got something Pierce.” She floored the accelerator, flying away from the bar.

“ _Yeah, Veteran Child was scheduled to spin at On Track tonight… want me to get a crew and take him out?_ ”

“NO.” The Boss almost yelled her response, “Don’t worry, I’ll handle this.”

Pierce knew better than to argue with her, “ _You got it Boss._ ”

The Boss swerved around the corner, already heading towards the location. She dialled up Shaundi’s number, answered within a few seconds, “You didn’t really think that trap would stop me, did you?” Her voice was sickly sweet, attempting to sound as innocent as possible.

“ _Oh shit…_ ”

“If I’m honest, I’m kind of insulted.”

“ _Fuck me…_ ” Veteran Child seemed to be getting the picture.

The Boss’ voice changed, her tone turning threatening, “You better have something better planned at On Track, because if not… well killing you is gonna be a real fucking let down.”

“ _This can’t be fucking happening._ ”

“See you soon.” This time, she was the one to end the call.

The Boss’ driving became more erratic the closer she got to On Track, taking more risks than she ever would normally. The sidewalk and the wrong side of the road were both fair game as she carved a path towards the club. Pedestrians were just barely avoiding being cleaned up by the purple muscle car, not that the Boss would really care if she did hit them. This car was more armoured than some tanks. It could easily escape any damage from a hit and run.

* * *

**On Track, Stilwater**

**4:00pm**

The club came into view down a straight road, Sons of Samedi cars blocking the entrance, with a few gang members behind the vehicles holding assault rifles. They noticed the Hammerhead barrelling down on them, all opening fire on the car.

The Boss only responded by pushing the accelerator further to the floor, the engine roaring even louder. She was aiming the nose of the car directly in the centre of the two cars, planning to crash right through. Bullets scratched the paint off, deflecting off the armoured car. They impacted the windshield, cracking but not penetrating the reinforced glass.

The Hammerhead hit the two cars, ploughing straight through and only losing some of its speed. The two green vehicles went skidding away, slamming into the people hiding behind them and sending them sprawling over the ground. The Boss slammed on the brakes once her car was fully through, wrenching a pistol from a holster before opening the door and shooting the nearest Samedi in the head. She retrieved her Tombstone and bag from the back, climbing out of the car and shooting the other gang member in the chest a few times with the pistol still in her hand.

The door of the club burst open, the Samedi at the head of it quickly met with a shotgun blast to the chest. She fell backwards into the rest, giving the Boss enough time to pump the reload and fire again, murdering another two. She stepped over their bodies, keeping the shotgun up and ready. Without looking, her weapon swivelled to the left in one hand, unleashing another shell and taking the Samedi who’d hoped to surprise her with a machete down. Another Samedi charged straight at her, holding his baseball bat up high in preparation to hit her. The Boss anticipated it, catching the metal shaft before it could start swinging down properly, pushing the shotgun’s barrel right up under his chin.

The Boss gave a sadistic grin, “Au revoir.” The body fell to the ground, skull blown into pieces out the back. She held the bat as his hands slacked off of it, letting her Tombstone fall on the strap and holding onto the bat with both hands. She looked around the club, only her left on the top floor. She spied an open door at the back, a symbol for stairs glued to it. From the outside the building appeared to be only one storey, so she surmised it must continue underground.

The sound of heavy running came echoing up the stairwell, the Boss quickly coming to stand right to the side of the door. She lifted the bat over one shoulder, preparing for the first Samedi to dare to show their face. The first one came up, looking around for a second before the metal bat crashed into his face. The blow sent him tumbling back down the stairs, tripping up all of the rest of them. The boss dropped the bat, pulling her Tombstone back up and firing down the stairs into the mass of limbs three times.

She quickly reloaded the weapon full with eight shells from her bag, taking the steps slowly. Loud music pumped up from below, not quite as loud as it would have been if the party that was planned here was actually raging, but loud enough that it would make it difficult to talk to anyone who wasn’t standing within a metre.

The Boss quickly scanned the room before being shot at and forced to duck behind the stairwell. The club was split up into three levels, a glass dancefloor on the second floor that sat above the bottom. She had just barely seen Veteran Child down there, currently with an arm wrapped around Shaundi’s throat and a pistol to her head. This was going to make it incredible hard to save the Lieutenant, but the Boss was fairly confident she’d be able to pull it off. She had to.

The club erupted into a hail of gunfire, all of them aiming at the leader of the Saints, “This is gonna be fun.”

The Boss shed herself of the bag of ammunition, moving the shotgun around to her back, getting it out of her way. She drew her pistols, smiling to herself as she drew in a quick few breaths. She stood to her feet, sprinting to the side, bullets impacting the walls behind her. The Boss rounded the corner, lifting both GDHC .50s up, pulling the triggers in rapid succession. The first Samedi went down with one bullet to the chest and one to the forehead. The next, two to the gut and one to the throat. The Boss could hear him choking on blood as she ran past. She dodged into an alcove, avoiding the next hostile’s gunfire and running along the attached room before emerging right next to him with a shot to the knee and another under the chin as he began to fall.

The first floor clear, the Boss lined herself up before leaping over the balustrade, firing down into the Samedi she landed on top of. She swivelled on her knee, firing once from each pistol into the next nearest, rolling out of the way as her position became too dangerous to keep. Only three Samedi remained, not including Veteran Child himself. She stuck one arm out, head-shotting the closest green-clad enemy. Two left. And only one bullet in each pistol.

One of the Samedi was relatively close, the other on the far side of the club. Veteran Child was both protected by the glass dance floor, but at the same time, it also prevented him from firing up at her. This was going to be a challenge, even for the Boss. She looked around the small alcove she’d ducked into, one of the small tables nearby covered in glasses. She smiled to herself. Now she had a plan.

The Boss came out of her hiding place, sprinting straight at the Samedi member. Just as he was about to fire, the Boss threw the glass in her hand as hard as she could, shattering against the arm that he raised in defence. She closed the rest of the distance while he was distracted, pushing the GDHC in her other hand into the centre of his chest. She could see the beads of sweat on his brow with how close she was, smirking at the obvious fear in his eyes. She pulled the trigger, momentarily revelling in the act of violence before the last Samedi’s bullets broke her out of her trance.

She holstered the spent pistol, bringing the one with a bullet still left in it to the ready. Keeping low, she ran along the edges of the club, avoiding the bullets flying over her head. She got to the last corner, the Samedi about halfway along, too far to surprise with a thrown object and not close enough to get to before she got shot. From several past experiences, getting shot was not exactly pleasant. She’d have to wait for her chance.

The bullets stopped flying; the Boss just barely able to hear the Samedi reloading the assault rifle in his hands over the loud music. She took her chance, spinning around the corner and sprinting straight for him. Just as his weapon came back up to fire, the Boss ducked down and tackled him about the waist, lifting him from the floor before slamming him to the ground. She got down on the ground with him, straddling his hips and punching him several times in the face with her free hand. Her fist was soon covered in his blood, her chest rising and falling with the exertion. He’d stopped resisting after the third punch. She looked down at him with absolutely no remorse, jamming her pistol into the ruin of teeth she’d left for him. His eyes were pleading, but she gave no mercy, pulling the trigger and ending him.

The Boss got to her feet, looking down at Veteran Child. He looked genuinely afraid of her, the typical response she’d found when someone witnessed her commit mass murder, especially on those of a rival gang. She hoped he wouldn’t do something stupid and hurt Shaundi, already planning what she would do to him if he did. She was already going to kill him for kidnapping her, but she had far more in mind if he hurt the Lieutenant.

The Boss calmly walked over to the DJ station, pulling the Tombstone into her hands and shooting the equipment, cutting off the music and turning the club almost eerily silent. She slowly made her way down the final set of stairs, aiming her shotgun at Veteran Child’s head the entire time. He had least had the intelligence to aim the weapon at Shaundi and not the Boss. She was far less likely to try something if Shaundi’s life was in danger rather than her own.

“Let Shaundi go. Now.”

“And what, you kill me? I don’t think so.” The Boss could hear his voice wavering, not entirely convinced of what he was saying, “What you’re gonna do, is let me walk out of here. Then you can have this bitch back.”

“Not going to happen. You’ve got two choices, you let Shaundi go, I end it quick. Bullet to the head. You hurt her; I make it slow. Draw it out till you’re begging for death. Then we keep going, find your real breaking point.” She let a smile tug at the edges of her lips, “It’ll be fun.”

Veteran Child stared at her, swallowing heavily, “You’re insane.”

The Boss shrugged and nodded, “Most likely. Now… you’ve got a choice to make.”

He seemed to be thinking, staring forward at the shotgun pointed at him. The Boss wasn’t sure if he knew she would never fire it even close to Shaundi, but she was hoping he didn’t. She tried to keep her eyes trained on him while still searching for a way to save Shaundi. She let her eyes travel over the Lieutenant’s face, her eyes just barely open. There was blood down the side of her face, slowly rolling down from a cut above her temple. The Boss felt her anger burn a little brighter. Veteran Child had already hurt her it seemed. She needed to get Shaundi away from him. She decided in that moment his death would not be quick, no matter what she’d promised him.

Veteran Child came to a decision, pushing the gun even harder into Shaundi’s head, opening the cut a little more and sending a fresh trickle of blood rolling down her cheek, “No, fuck this. You’re letting me out of here or I kill Shaundi.” The Boss took a step forward, his voice rising in volume to a scream, “I MEAN IT!”

The leader of the Saints gave one last quick look around for a solution. As her eyes drifted to the glass dance floor above them, an idea popped into her brain and took root. That just might work.

Quicker than Veteran Child could react, the Boss’ Tombstone swivelled up, firing into the glass above. Four of the panes shattered, raining down shards of glass around them. His arm came away from Shaundi’s neck, the young woman falling to the ground in her near-unconscious state, trying to both protect herself from falling debris and unable to support her own weight.

The Boss charged forward, letting her shotgun fall from her hands. She grabbed the barrel of the pistol in Veteran Child’s hand with her left, unleashing a savage hook with her right and snapping his head sideways. He collapsed to the ground as the glass finished raining down around them, looking up into the Boss’ face. She grabbed the collar of his shirt, lifting him up from the ground and within a few inches of her face, “You learned this lesson too late, but… Don’t. Fuck. With. The Saints.”

Her fist came rushing forward, punching him out of her own grip and knocking him out cold. She sucked in a breath of relief, turning away from the unconscious Samedi, moving to Shaundi’s side. The young Lieutenant was barely holding onto consciousness at this point. The Boss had a feeling Veteran Child may have drugged her as well as hit her, and even with Shaundi’s prodigious tolerance for drugs, these seemed to be taking a pronounced effect.

“Shaundi.” She turned the woman onto her back, lifting her torso off the ground and cradling her in the crook of one elbow, “Shaundi, talk to me. You ok?”

Shaundi groaned, “Ugh… my ex boyfriend’s a dick.” Shaundi turned her face towards the Boss’ chest, resting her cheek just below her shoulder.

The Boss chuckled, “That’s an understatement.” She helped Shaundi to her feet, pulling the Lieutenant’s arm around her shoulder. They made their way carefully up the stairs and out of the club, the Boss pushing the door opened, “I still can’t believe you got your ass kicked by that chump.”

“Did I mention that my ex boyfriend’s a dick?” Shaundi looked up at the Boss with a lazy smile.

“Oui, you did. How about I get you back to the crib? You definitely need some rest.”

Shaundi let out a quiet bark of laughter, “If by resting you mean smokin’ an ounce, then hell yeah…”

“Whatever makes you feel better.” The Boss opened her car’s door, helping Shaundi into the passenger seat. “Wait right here, left some of my shit in the club.” Before she left, the Boss planted a kiss at the top of Shaundi’s forehead. She closed the door, making her way back inside the club.

Shaundi was pretty out of it, but the Boss had just done something really weird. A sign of tenderness was not exactly something ‘The Butcher of Stilwater’ was known for. Shaundi wasn’t even sure if the Boss had any emotions at all, aside from anger and the occasional bout of lust. She seemed so inapproachable that most didn’t even try, too afraid of what she’d do in response. But now, she’d done something so out of character that it gave Shaundi far too many thoughts on what it could mean. And maybe a better question was, did she want it to mean that? She’d always just fucked anything that came along, but she very much doubted the Boss meant it like that.

Now that she thought about it, she didn’t even know the Boss’ name. As far as she knew, no one did. If anyone, only Gat would know, but somehow, she doubted even the longest serving Saint did either. The only thing anyone seemed to know about the Boss before the Saints was that she was French and that she’d come to Stilwater approximately seven or eight years ago, joining the Saints six years ago and rising to the top by five before being blown up and put into a coma for the time until now. Even Stilwater’s news outlets hadn’t given her a name aside from ‘The Leader of the Saints’. Nothing seemed to exist of her prior to seven years ago.

Shaundi shook her head. This was something she could think about another time. Right now, she just wanted to sleep. She let her eyes fully close, relaxing into the custom purple leather seats of the Boss’ car.

The Boss went back inside On Track, picking her way back over the bodies. She’d come back inside for two reasons. To collect her bag of ammunition and to collect Veteran Child. She’d promised him a slow death, and she was going to deliver. The bag slung over her shoulder, she made her way down to the bottom, where the dreadlocked white boy still lay unconscious, surrounded by broken glass. She pulled some rope out of her bag, kept in it for this exact purpose. She tied his hands together before tying his feet.

Grunting with the effort, the Boss lifted Veteran Child over her shoulder, climbing the stairs back up to street level. He was lighter than she was expecting, his baggy clothing hiding a barely-there wiry frame with very little fat or muscle. He probably wouldn’t last long under what she had planned, but it would be long enough.

The Boss made it back onto the street, the sound of police sirens in the distance. Just like at Cocks, she didn’t particularly want to have to deal with Stilwater’s finest. She opened the trunk of her car, dumping Veteran Child into it before slamming it shut. Luckily, she didn’t normally keep very many weapons in her car apart from her Tombstone and two GDHC .50s, along with ammunition for both. Veteran Child would likely wake up before she got to her destination, and being able to find a gun in the back would be very unfortunate.

She climbed into the front seat, throwing her bag and Tombstone in behind the seats. She looked across at Shaundi, now fast asleep in the passenger seat. Not entirely sure why she was doing it, the Boss reached over and brushed a few of Shaundi’s bangs away from her face before catching herself and withdrawing. She blinked a few times, snapping herself out of whatever the hell had possessed her to do it.

The Hammerhead started with a roar, just quiet enough to avoid waking the passenger. The Boss carefully pulled out of the parking lot of On Track, actually keeping to the speed limit and road rules on the way back toward Purgatory.

* * *

**Purgatory, Stilwater**

**6:00pm**

The Boss pulled up outside the headquarters of the Saints, climbing out of the car and nodding to the two guards now either side of the doors. She’d called ahead and ordered both Gat and Pierce back to Purgatory along with several other members of the Saints. She wasn’t taking the chance that the Sons of Samedi would attack again while she was out.

She moved around to the passenger door, opening it softly, looking inside down at Shaundi. The Lieutenant was dead to the world, whatever Veteran Child had drugged her with had taken effect fully and put her out for the count. The Boss gathered her limp body in her arms, slinging an arm around her shoulders, one of her arms under her knees and the other around her shoulders. She lifted Shaundi out of the car, closing the door with a slight push from her butt.

The Saints opened the elevator for her, stepping inside and standing against the wall while she waited to get to Purgatory itself. It dinged open, the Boss calmly making her way through the halls and down to the central room. Just as she’d requested, only Gat and Pierce were there, waiting for her.

They both looked up as she came down the stairs, rising to their feet as she made it to the bottom of the stairs. “Shit Boss...” Pierce was shocked at the state of both Shaundi and the Boss herself. The Boss had blood spattered over much of her chest and face, not that she’d really taken notice. She’d been covered in other people’s blood before, it was nothing new. Now that she thought about it, she didn’t think Pierce had ever seen her like this. It was going to happen sooner or later.

Gat wasn’t surprised at all, a smile on his face, “Looks like you had fun. Shame I missed it.”

The Boss gently laid Shaundi down on the biggest couch, propping her head up with a pillow, “You’d have loved it.” There was no joviality in her voice and she didn’t say a word more. She simply walked off toward the back of the hideout. Pierce looked at Gat with confusion, the older Saint simply shrugging.

The Boss moved through the back of the hideout, only just recently upgraded to the look of the front section of it. After the Ronin had attacked, the Boss had invested a great deal of money in getting the entire place done up as befitted the Saints. She'd claimed the furthest back corner as her own, turning it into essentially a two-storey apartment underground. Every wall was heavily reinforced to double it as a sort of panic room, not that she ever thought she’d need it. But she liked to prepare for anything. There was enough firepower in here to take down a small army if need be.

She only came back here for something specific. A large duffel bag she kept stocked for a reason, and she was about to need it.

The Boss marched back into the main room, not even glancing at Gat and Pierce as she walked towards the stairs, “Make sure Shaundi’s alright, pretty sure she’s been drugged, and not the kind she likes. Call the Doctor if need be, you know the one. I’ll be out of town for a few hours, maybe more.”

“Where you goin’ Boss?” Pierce’s question went unanswered as she climbed the stairs two at a time, “Boss!” His yell echoed after her as she disappeared from sight. He turned to Gat, “What the fuck? Where’s she going?”

Gat shook his head, turning back to Shaundi, “Well, judging by what she was carrying, you really don’t wanna fucking know.”

“Wait, what?”

Gat sighed, a slightly wistful grin on his face, “The last time she left with that bag was five years ago, and she came back covered head to toe in someone else's blood. So, trust me... you don’t wanna fucking know where the Boss is going.”

Pierce stared at Gat for some indication that he was lying or kidding in some way, but the Saints’ second-in-command gave none. Just like Shaundi, he’d never really seen what the Boss was capable of when she was backed into a corner or when someone had done something to really piss her off. Gat was waiting for the moment when she found Julius again. That would be a sight to behold. The rage she held for that man burned brighter than the sun. She’d tear him limb from limb if she ever got the chance.

The Boss made it back to her Hammerhead, tossing the duffel bag onto the passenger seat. She got in the driver’s seat, driving away from the Saint’s headquarters. She was soon on the bridge that led out of Stilwater. The destination she had in mind was far outside the city, nothing else for tens of miles in any direction. Perfect for what she had planned.

* * *

**The Boss’ Warehouse, 100 Miles from Stilwater**

**9:00pm**

The Boss slowed the Hammerhead to a crawl, stopping just near the door to the small building. It was in the middle of nowhere, not even a tree in sight of it. The ground was cracked and dusty, close to being a desert but not quite.

She got out of the door, only now hearing the banging come from the trunk of the car. She’d had the music turned up loud while she’d been driving, not hearing the obvious distress her passenger was under. She smiled at his attempts to escape. This was going to be fun.

The Boss moved to the back, popping open the trunk. Veteran Child blinked up at the suddenly bright light of the trunk’s internal lighting streaming into his eyes. His nose was broken from where the Boss had knocked him out along with a large purple bruise spreading across his cheek where she’d crossed him. These injuries would soon be the least of his worries.

“What the fuck! Let me go you fucking psychopath!” He was still struggling at the ropes binding his wrists and ankles together, the strands already rubbing away most of the skin at his wrists.

“We’re way past mercy.” The Boss cocked her head at his struggling, “You know you’re not getting out of this right?” She leaned down a bit, one hand on the trunk lid while her other gripped the pistol at her side, “You’re going to die Veteran Child. You’re going to die for what you did.” Before he could offer a response, the hand on the pistol came forward, gripping the back of his head and slamming it into the trunk lid. He held onto consciousness for a few more seconds before succumbing once more.

The Boss let go of his head, moving to grab his wrists with one hand and ankles with the other. She hauled the body onto her shoulder, closing the trunk and moving inside the building with her victim. She hadn’t been here in five years, the last time before she’d been blown up by Julius. She breathed in deep, practically smelling the suffering that these walls had seen. It was good to be back.

Veteran Child was soon strapped down onto a table, each limb bound by heavy metal cuffs to one corner. His clothes were piled up in a corner, leaving only his underwear on. The Boss needed him properly restrained so she could do what she needed to, and she’d found this was the best way to do it. She retrieved her bag from the Hammerhead, moving a small table near Veteran Child’s and unpacking each implement onto it. Now all she had to do was wait from him to wake up again. She moved an armchair a metre to the side of him, collecting a large hunting knife, the same model that Gat had a fondness for and settled into the chair to wait.

As it turned out, she didn’t have to wait long, he started waking up only twenty minutes later. She picked at her nails with the point of the knife, waiting for him to notice her. He finally turned his head to look at her, briefly struggling against his cuffs. She continued her inspection of her fingernails, paying him no attention whatsoever. “Why?” The question got her to glance up, “Why are you doing this? Why not just kill me?”

“Ah, finally awake.” She stood to her feet, calmly making her way to stand beside the table, placing both hands down, the tip of the knife barely an inch from his ear, “And to answer your question, it’s very simple actually.” The Boss began to pace around the table in a slow circle, tapping the flat of the knife on her hand, “I have two rules. Only two. For how not to get on my bad side. Number one is this,” She stopped at the end, right between his legs. She smiled for a second.

Veteran Child screamed, looking down in shock at the knife sticking out of his leg. Without warning, the Saint had reached forward and buried it nearly to the handle in his right thigh, “WHAT THE FUCK?!”

The Boss gripped the handle, slowly withdrawing the knife from his flesh while wiggling it a little to elicit more screams from him, hissing her words out, “Don’t. Fuck. With. The Saints.” She fully pulled the knife free, wiping the blood off on her bare forearm, “Now, a lot of people have broken this first one, you included. Being part of the Sons of Samedi sealed your death long before now, but what you’ve done…” She moved to the side of him, stroking his thigh before pushing a pointer finger into the wound and digging around within the damaged flesh, his body writhing in an attempt to get away, “You’re going to get a lot more than just death.”

Veteran Child tried to pull his leg away from her, only succeeding in opening the wound further with how deep her finger was, “Please… Stop…”

To his great surprise, the Boss complied, withdrawing her hand. She continued her pace around the table, “Now, the second rule.” She suddenly stopped at his head, looking down at him, “Hold on. Where are my manners? I forgot to ask you your name. Rather rude to torture someone without knowing their name, don’t you think?”

“Veteran… Child…” He barely managed to breath out the words through the blinding pain from his leg.

“No, no, no, not your stupid stage name. Your real name.” She laughed, “Oh, by the way, it is a really fucking dumb name. Veteran Child? What the fuck are you a veteran of? A bully in the playground?”

He grit his teeth, practically growling out, “Ernest.”

“Ernest…” The Boss let the name linger in the silence of the warehouse. Something bubbled up from her belly, starting out as a quiet giggle before erupting into full blow belly-aching laughter, “ERNEST?” She couldn’t stop herself, “Oh my god… and I thought your stage name was bad.” She wiped a tear from her eye as her laugher finally died down.

“What’s yours?”

All humour almost immediately died on the Boss’ face. She balanced the knife a few inches away from where she’d previously pushed it in. A bead of blood pooled under it. “The second rule…” She slowly put more force down, the blade breaking through the skin and slicing the muscle apart. Ernest screamed again, the Boss not stopping till she felt the blade touch the table under his thigh, “Don’t ask about my past.” She moved to the head of the table, leaning down and whispering in his ear, “And now… I’m going to tell you a story about a friend of mine.”

This time she left the knife where it was, grabbing another from her tool table. Ernest groaned, still struggling against his binds. “Fuck you bitch!” Blood began to pool under his leg, spreading across the table at an agonisingly slow rate.

She ignored his insult, “Now, for my story. Have you ever heard of Joséphine Denault?”

He vigoursly shook his head.

The Boss nodded, “I didn’t think you would have. Not many people outside of France would know of her.” She ran the knife in her hands down the centre of his chest, just enough pressure to break his skin at various points but not all the way along it. “Joséphine Denault is the last surviving member of the Denault family. They lived in a small town in Northern France up until about eight years ago.” She circled the wound without the knife with her blade, cutting away some of the flesh and earning a groan from him, “There were seven of them. The father, François, the mother, Adrianna and the five children. Four boys and Joséphine. Fabien, the oldest. Jacques, the second. Charles, the third. And finally, the twin of Joséphine, Antoine.”

“Why… are you telling me this?” Ernest was going slightly pale in the face, from the pain or blood loss, the Boss wasn’t sure.

She moved to the side of him, looking down into his face. Her hand came flying across, backhanding him as hard as she could, “Don’t fall asleep on me.” Her words warned of something worse, of what he wasn’t sure, “And I’m telling you because I can. Because you’re never going to leave this room. So, you’ll never be able to tell anyone.” She began to talk again, trailing the knife over the nearest patch of skin as she did, “Back to Joséphine. She had a relatively normal life, went to school, had friends, a happy life. Except-” She held up a finger, leaning down over his face from behind, “-for one crucial difference. Can you guess what that was, Ernest?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ll give you a clue. Her father and three of the brothers had a certain...” The Boss searched for the right word, “...familiarity, with her.”

Ernest’s eyes widened as he looked up at the Boss and realised what she meant, “They raped her.”

“BINGO!” The Boss suddenly yelled out, leaning forward and bringing the knife in her hand down hard onto Ernest’s right hand, carving straight through his pinkie. He screamed. “And the winner gets a prize!”

He struggled to look down at his hand, blood pulsing from the stump that was his finger. The Boss moved around to the side, picking up the dismembered digit, turning it over in her hands. She chucked it over her shoulder, working the knife out of the wood of the table till she held it once more, “I got it right! Why did you-”

The Boss grabbed his face in one hand, squeezing his cheeks in against his teeth, “That was the prize. I didn’t say it was a prize for you. Let's face it, I'm the winner here, not you. I’m not the one strapped to a table.” She let go, forcing his head back down onto the table with a hard push to his forehead. She looked over the wounds she’d caused so far. If she didn’t do something soon, Veteran Child might actually bleed out before she was done. Luckily, she’d prepared for this. Shaking the blood of the blade, she returned to her tools and picked up a small device, “Time to fix you up a little.”

Ernest raised his head up with trepidation, eyes widening at the tool in her hands. She clicked a button, a flame shooting out of the nozzle. She turned a small knob, controlling the flame till it was a jet of extreme blue, “No, no, no…”

The Boss smiled, “Yes, yes, yes…” She held the knife to the flame, heating the blade up to blistering temperatures. She moved the blowtorch away, moving the knife around, feeling the heat just from holding it. She put the torch down, grabbing Ernest’s right wrist with her free hand, holding it fast. She moved the blade closer, inch by inch, even as he tried to squirm away from it. The Boss winked at him before rushing the last distance and pressing the flat of it to the severed finger. Her laughter drowned out some of the screaming, holding him close and preventing him from getting away from it. Every limb strained at the restraints. When the smell of burning flesh meeting her nostrils became a little too much, she pulled the blade away. She reheated the knife a little more, pressing it to the first open wound on his leg, singing the flesh there. It turned black and sealed it somewhat, no longer bleeding. Now only the knife still in his leg was giving off any blood.

Veteran Child’s brow was slick with sweat, his face creased with excruciating pain. He screamed out as loud as he could, “YOU FUCKING SOCIOPATH!”

“Sociopath?” The Boss raised an eyebrow, grabbing the knife still embedded in his leg, wrenching it free with a spray of blood that splattered across her chest and even hit her cheek. Just as quickly, she stabbed the scorching knife into the wound, boiling some of the blood still oozing from it while cauterising it and preventing anymore from coming out. She pulled the blade out, setting both knives aside and standing at the end of the table between Ernest’s legs. She leant over, gripping his calves near to the ankles, “I guess I am, yes. As much as I hate being called one.” She pondered the word, sounding it out, “So-ci-o-path…” She gripped a little harder, “I enjoy hurting people.” It was a statement of fact, not boasting, not self-depreciating, simple fact, “I _enjoy_ killing people. Hurting people, killing people, generally causing wanton destruction, has gotten me to where I am today. A Queen amongst ants.” She moved her hands a little further down, sliding her fingers almost tenderly over Ernest’s ankles, “But… I don’t fit every definition, as you might think.”

“You’re just a monster.” He spat out the words in the Boss’ direction.

“Maybe.” She grinned, letting go of her right foot and moving both hands to his left, “But I am fiercely loyal to those who show it to me. The Saints are my family. I would do anything for them. To protect them. I would _burn_ the world to the ground for them.” She looked down at the blackened and burned flesh on Ernest’s leg and stump of a pinkie, “As you’ve found out.” She thought for a moment, scenarios flowing through her head of what would’ve happened if Veteran Child had kidnapped someone else besides Shaundi, “Though of course… I’m more loyal to certain Saints. If you had kidnapped one of the newer members of my little family, maybe I would’ve just shot you in the head. Members from back in the day who joined back up, might’ve fucked you up a bit before killing you. Pierce, well… I would’ve brought you here for a bit of this, then shot you. Gat… well frankly if you could kidnap Gat, I might’ve actually run away terrified. Motherfucker is crazier than I am most of the time.” Her grin vanished, “But kidnapping Shaundi? That was the worst move you could’ve made.”

With that final admission, the Boss tightened her grip on Ernest’s left foot and snapped it sideways, the tendon instantly breaking and bone shattering as she continued to twist the joint until his foot faced the wrong way. A silent scream came from his lips as the skin around his ankle turned dark purple, blood pooling beneath his skin.

“Enough about that. Back to Joséphine. Her father was the head of the _police_ _municipale_ in the small town she grew up in. So, as you can imagine, a bit hard to report any wrongdoing, no matter how heinous the crime. Even if it was a forced incestuous relationship by her father and three brothers.” She paused, pacing around once more, “What was she to do? Hmm? Run away? The police would just bring her right back. Tell someone outside the family? Who would believe her?”

By this point, Veteran Child knew there was nothing he could do to prevent his death. That much had become abundantly clear. The leader of the Saints had already injured him beyond the point of escape. If he could just keep her talking, maybe she’d stop torturing him and just end it, “What about… her mother?”

“Adrianna?” The Boss laughed, “You think that bitch would be any help? You wanna know what she told little Joséphine when she tried to tell her what her father and brothers were doing?” The Boss put on a thicker French accent than she had, raising her voice a few tones, “‘Good little girls help their fathers and brothers, no matter what it is. You want to be a good little girl, don’t you?’”

Ernest had no response to that. He just stared at the ceiling, the pain radiating from his injuries taking up nearly all of his concentration. If he was honest, he was barely following the Boss’ story, as horrific as it was. But he had to try and keep her talking somehow, “How did she get away?”

“Ah, now you’re getting to the good part. How did Joséphine get away from her father and brothers? Well, she didn’t at first. It all started when she was seven. Her father took her into his bedroom, saying he wanted to show her something. Something amazing. Something they could share.” The Boss picked up a knife once more, twirling the blade through her fingers, “And you know what he did?”

Veteran Child swallowed, “I think I can guess.”

The Boss didn’t give him a chance to even hazard one, “He _fucked_ her. Hard and fast. With his wife, the mother of his four sons and the daughter he was _inside_ , sitting not four feet below in the living room. He came inside her, told her ‘Don’t tell anyone about this, or you’ll get in trouble.’” She laughed, “As if _she_ was the one in the wrong. Now of course, most little girls look up to their fathers, and Joséphine was no different. She believed him. Believed that she would get in trouble if she said anything. Believed that the pain she felt every time her father did things to her, that it was her fault. And, this went at least once a week, for three years.”

The Boss moved to her tool table, picking something up that Ernest couldn’t see. She kept her back to him, turning the object over in her hands several times, pondering how to use it. His vision had begun to blur at the edges, his mind trying to send him into unconsciousness to prevent him from feeling the agony his body was under. He shook his head, willing himself back awake. He’d only wake up worse, he was sure of it. “And after three years?” Keep her talking.

She turned back, brandishing the object she’d been thinking about. It proved to be a small whip, something that would’ve looked at home in bondage porn. But it had been modified. The end of each tassel had a half razor blade attached. This would tear strips off whoever was hit with it, “Three years after, Joséphine was home sick from school one day. Normally, her mother would’ve taken time off work to be there, but they needed her, so little Josié was home alone. That is… until Fabien came home. Now, Fabien was ten years older than Josié. And, being the ever-concerned big brother, said he had something that would help Josié feel better.” She took a few lazy steps towards the table, gently running the sharp-ended tassels over Ernest’s chest, “Which, you can probably guess, turned out to be his dick.”

The whip rose up and came down just as quickly, drawing five red lines across Veteran Child’s chest. He cried out and sat up slightly, only to fall back down as the movement made the agony worse. Blood oozed out of each one, slowly turning more of his pale skin sanguine. The life-giving liquid had spattered onto the boss once more, staining even more of the top the Boss was wearing. She had been careful to make the cuts incredibly shallow, not willing to end this just yet. She’d practiced with this weapon for hours, honing her skill to cause maximum pain but as little injury as possible. This wasn’t what she would kill him with, “Please… just kill me.”

The Boss giggled, leaning down and lightly slapping his face a few times, punctuating her first few words with one light smack each, “Not quite yet. You haven’t even heard the whole story!” She returned to her light dragging movements, “Now… where was I? Ah yes, Fabien. Now, just like his father, Fabien’s treatment of Joséphine became a weekly occurrence. Even after he left home at 22, he’d come back once a week for his little sister. You’d think that Jacques would be the next in line, but no, next came Charles. He came into Josié’s room one night, only to see his oldest brother going to town on his sister. Like really going at it. Springs in the bed creaking, pulling out all the stops. What does sixteen-year-old Charles do when he sees his thirteen-year-old sister being _RAPED_ -” She practically screamed the word, anger blazing through, “-by his brother? Tell someone? Try to pull him off? Do _ANYTHING_ to help her?”

Ernest swallowed, afraid to answer lest it be met with another hit from the whip. The Saint seemed to be waiting for an answer, practically quivering with rage, her former humour gone, “Nothing?”

“ _NOTHING!_ ” Instead of the whip coming down, the Boss’ free hand slammed into the table, not even touching the man she was torturing, “He. Did. _Nothing._ ” Her breathing was ragged, barely able to contain herself, “Nothing… that night. The very next night, he came into Joséphine’s room while she was sleeping. Remarkably peacefully, considering her lot in life. He kissed her neck. Lightly.” She held the whip aloft, running the razor blades along the wounds she’d already made with them, “He’d never been a large person. Charles was small and wiry, a quiet boy by all accounts. And he thought he could make it all better for Joséphine.” The Boss’ voice went quiet, an almost soft quality over it, “He made love to her.” It changed once again, gaining a harder edge but not quite losing the softness, “As much as raping your sister can be called ‘love’.”

The Boss lifted her free hand, placing her palm splayed out on Veteran Child’s ribs on the opposite side to her. She pulled it back across with some force, opening the lacerations further and covering her hand in blood. He couldn’t form a scream, his pain coming out as a quiet whimper. When she pulled her hand away, she made no move to shake it off or clean it whatsoever. Ernest’s chest rose and fell with shallow breaths, forcing himself to take lighter ones, fairly certain a full breath would split his wounds open even further, “And Jacques?” Despite himself, he continued asking about Joséphine. He couldn’t help it now.

His question seemed to shake the Boss from a trance, “Ah… Jacques… He was a later addition to Joséphine’s count of _familial relations_. When she was fifteen, he came home, himself a twenty-four-year-old banker, living away from their quaint childhood house. He even had a fiancée at the time. Charming English woman, Caroline, polite as anyone you’ll ever meet and doted on Josié quite a bit as well.” A slightly wistful smile crossed the Saint’s face, gone just as quickly as it came, “Josié was home alone, something she tried to avoid as much as possible. Being home alone with almost anyone in her family inevitably led to only one outcome. As it were, there she was, alone in her room, in the middle of the day. Jacques comes in, calls out for their mother. No answer, of course. He searches around the bottom floor, still nothing. So… he climbs the stairs, finds Joséphine minding her own business. Just sitting at her desk, reading a book.” The Boss lifted the whip, slowly bringing the handle down till it was horizontal against Ernest’s chest, pressing the hard leather down and staining it with blood, “He doesn’t even say a word. Not. A. Single. Word. She never knew why he did it. Never knew what came over him, never knew what he’d seen in the past, what their father and brothers had done to her for years.”

She paused again, gripping the whip fully. It came away from his skin, the Boss taking a step away from the table and elevating the weapon. Ernest could practically hear her gripping the handle tighter, the leather squeaking under her hand. It came down with violent force, striking over the cauterised wounds on his legs. The wounds immediately reopened, fresh blood surging to the surface. He shrieked, his body writhing under the blow. The Boss brought the whip down twice more-blood spattering over her chest and spitting onto her face-before stopping.

“Jacques was a large man. Larger than any of his brothers, larger than his father. Joséphine was never a big person, maybe a little larger than the average girl her age, but compared to Jacques, she was tiny. And he never said a word.” The rage came back into her voice, turning it dangerously low, “Jacques grabbed her from her chair, lifted her to her feet, bent her over and wrenched her panties down. Before she could even say no or anything to stop him, he was inside her, pumping away. He was rougher than her father, more violent than the brothers. There was no ‘family love’ or whatever bullshit the others told themselves they were doing it for. This was just a _quick…_ _brutal… fuck_.”

Veteran Child had no words for what he was hearing, mostly due to the severe wounds over his body. Every breath was agony, every small movement. But the Boss’ story was horrifying, of what had happened to Joséphine. It sounded like something someone would make up, but he could tell from the Saint’s voice that she wasn’t lying. All of it really happened. And it had happened to _her_. He hadn’t been entirely sure at first, whether or not the Boss was just telling a story about someone she knew like she’d said or making it up as she went, but it had become apparent that she was talking about her own life. About events that had led to the sort of person she was today. The leader of the Saints and Joséphine Denault were one and the same. He asked the only thing he could think of, “How did it all end?”

Joséphine’s head snapped up to look into Veteran Child’s eyes. She found a mixture of pity and sympathy. For the person who was currently torturing him. He’d realised she’d been talking about her own memories. The only other person who she’d told this story to had somehow never figured it out. They’d died screaming and begging for mercy. She’d tortured, maimed and murdered them for information she’d needed, while telling her story. Joséphine had never been quite sure what had possessed her to tell either of them about her past, but she had. If any of what she’d said had gotten out, there would be far too many questions and far too much heat coming down on the Saints. According to French authorities, Joséphine Denault was missing and wanted for the murder of her entire family. She was presumed dead, but the search still went on. But if she were to pop up suddenly as a gang leader in America, something bad would happen, she knew it. So, she kept it under wraps, telling only two people in her entire life that she had complete control over whether they lived or died. One was already dead, having bled out in this very room. The other would be dead soon, so there was nothing stopping her revealing everything.

“I did the only thing I could.” Joséphine saw no point in hiding the fact that she was telling her own life story anymore, “I. Ended. It. All.”

* * *

**Northern France**

**7:30pm, Eight Years Ago**

Joséphine stared up at the roof as Fabien moved on top of her. With every stroke he pushed her into the mattress, pulling back till he was nearly out before thrusting all the way back in. His face was pressed into her neck, breathing ragged as he pumped in and out of her slowly.

She’d learned long ago to lay back and let it happen. Fighting back only led to pain. They were all done quickly if she just took it. Her arms were wrapped around his shoulders, her legs around his hips. She moaned delicately, a pleased grumble coming from her brother. He always liked it if she seemed to also be enjoying herself. She’d learned tricks and cheats to make it easier for herself. To resign herself to her fate and lessen the impact on her mind. But something had changed.

She’d made a decision three months ago. Something inside her brain had finally snapped. After a decade of abuse, she’d resolved to do something about it and that resolution would forever change her life. It had taken Joséphine another month to figure out the plan, and another two to finally find the right time to do it. And that night was tonight.

Everything was in place. Everyone who needed to be here, was here or was going to be soon. Everything was going to go according to her plan. She would finally be free after tonight.

Joséphine glanced up at the ledge below her window. The sliver of black handle there was the first stage. She’d hidden it slightly behind her curtains, only that little bit poking out between the middle of them. It hadn’t taken much coaxing to get Fabien into position. He seemed more than willing to take her in whatever position she put herself in. His lust for her had not wavered over the years, something she’d finally pay him back for.

“Fabien…” She moaned his name out, his thrusts picking up speed with her encouragement.

“Josié… I’m close…”

Joséphine untangled one of her arms, reaching up to the window. Her fingers closed around the handle, silently pulling the object down. She hid it slightly beneath the blankets bunched at her side, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Fabien’s strokes became more frenzied, his face lifting away from her slightly. Not quite high enough yet. She squeezed his hips close with her legs, preventing him from fully pulling out. His chest came off her, only her nipples slightly brushing against his chest, his head still lowered.

“Fab..ien…” Her slightly strained moan had the desired effect, his head fully coming up to look down into her eyes, his hips continuing their movement. She smiled at him. Something she’d never done before while they’d been in this position. Confusion spread across his face, his thrusts slowing down. She growled out only two words, her smile vanishing, “It’s time.”

The knife came up before Fabien could see it, its tip stabbing into the underside of his jaw before the entire blade disappeared into his head, leaving only the handle outside. She’d had to put significant force into the blade to get it through, but she’d managed it. Joséphine felt the tip of it hit a hard surface on the other side, maintaining her grip over the handle and holding firm. Blood poured out from the wound, splashing down onto the top of her breasts, her neck and over her face.

Her eldest brother looked genuinely shocked. Shocked that she could possible do something like this to him. Even as the life faded from his eyes, the only emotion that could have described his final moments was… betrayal. His body collapsed down and to the side, feeling him exit her, his arm and leg still splayed over her body. He continued spasming for a few moments before stilling.

Joséphine was breathing hard, almost disbelieving that she’d actually gone ahead with it. After months of planning, there was no going back now. A smile spread across her face, a small giggle coming through her chest unbidden. Her hand came up to silence the sound, covering it in her brother’s blood. She pulled it away slowly, smile spreading even wider at the red covering her palm. It felt good to finally have some sort of control over her life. And this was just the beginning.

She pushed herself to her feet, standing over Fabien’s corpse for a few moments. The kitchen knife she’d used was still embedded deep in his skull, blood pulsing out every few seconds, the pulse coming slower with every passing moment. Her plan did not require her to use that blade again, leaving it in his head.

She moved to the other side of her room, throwing a few extra blankets aside from her next weapon. She’d went to a sporting goods store after school a few weeks ago, picking out a completely metal baseball bat. It had been difficult to bring it inside the house without anyone seeing it, knowing she’d be questioned if she’d been found with it. Joséphine had never been particularly into sports, and this would’ve been quite a sharp departure from her normal habits. She lifted it, twirling it a few times in the air and swinging it. The weight felt perfect for the next phase.

“Charles! Can you please help me with something?” Joséphine’s voice rang out clear through the house, echoing so everyone would hear it. She moved across the room, opening her bedroom door wide and hiding behind it, out of sight of anyone who might enter. She heard the footsteps of her brother a few seconds later, moving down the hallway towards the room. Her bedroom was at the opposite end of the house to the stairs, while Charles’ was the first. It meant she had plenty of time to hide before he got there.

“What’s up Josié…” Charles’ voice trailed off as he stepped into the room and took in the sight of Fabien’s naked body, the sheets underneath him splattered with red and the knife handle jutting out of his jaw. Charles’ steps became staggered, moving toward the bed.

Joséphine silently pushed the door away from herself, almost shutting it but stopping it less than an inch from the door frame. She raised the bat over her head, stepping toward her brother’s form. The metal came rushing around, colliding with the side of his head and sending him falling sideways, crashing into the ground.

She pushed back with her foot, shutting the door completely. She was suddenly very glad that her father had insisted on installing solid, almost-sound-proof doors on every bedroom. Joséphine was aware the real reason for that change was herself, and what her father did to her at least once a week, but it now worked to her advantage.

She grinned sadistically down at her brother, cradling his head on the floor. She’d aimed the blow just barely above his shoulder level, trying her best not to knock him out immediately or run the risk of killing him, “Well, well, well… finally at _my_ mercy.”

Charles looked up into his sister’s face, eyes travelling down her naked body on instinct. The pale skin of her neck and breasts covered in blood. Small rivers of the sanguine liquid travelling down her body. He could barely think through the pain of his shattered jaw, but the shock that was Joséphine, naked and with her torso covered in blood, was enough to allow some thoughts through, “Josié…” The name barely came out, choking out nearly a mouthful of his own blood.

Joséphine didn’t say a word, bringing the bat down hard on his knees, shattering both caps and causing his torso and abdomen to jerk up at the pain, “Making love to me, were you?” The bat swung sideways, crashing into his nose and sending his head smashing back down to the ground, “You’re no better than Papa, Fabien or Jacques, Charles. You _RAPED_ me just the same. Didn’t try to help me, gave me exactly the same.”

“Please…” Charles quickly resorted to begging for his life. He wasn’t sure where it had all gone wrong. After the first time with his little sister, he hadn’t been able to stop himself. He knew it was wrong, knew he and the rest of his family needed help. Knew they were screwing up Joséphine’s body and mind beyond repair. But he didn’t think it would ever lead to this.

“No getting out of this.” The bat came down onto Charles’ chest, breaking his sternum and several ribs, “You’re all going to die Charles. I’m going to kill our family, all of them. You don’t deserve to live. Not after what you all did to me.”

Charles could barely breathe, barely make a sound, but he needed to say something, “What… about… Antoine?”

“Antoine?” Joséphine’s face twisted with rage, squatting down next to her brother’s face, “Him too. He knew what you were all doing. He could’ve helped me. He could’ve done ANYTHING!” She screamed the word, “To help his twin sister. But no, what does he do? Nothing. Acts as if we’re a normal family, as if every other male member of the family doesn’t fuck their little sister or daughter at least once a week. Who doesn’t rape her repeatedly, for years on end? So yes, Antoine is going to die. So is Mama. And especially Papa.” She stood back to her full height, “But first… _you._ ”

The bat crashed into his chest again and again, crushing every single rib into a million pieces. She kept going long after she knew he was dead, pounding wet chunks of flesh and bone into the floor. It felt good. Revenge was something she’d waited so long for, and it was worth it. Joséphine couldn’t wipe the smile from her face as she stood over Charles’ mutilated body.

She looked down at herself. Her body was now covered in blood, from ankles all the way up to her face. Her long blond hair was streaked with red, beginning to mat from it. She dropped the bat to the ground, breathing in and out slowly in the middle of the room.

The next phase of her plan was the trickiest. She needed to get to both Jacques and Antoine, both of whom were in rooms right next to each other. There would be no chance that one would not hear whatever she might try to do to the other. She’d already decided to go after Jacques first. She wouldn’t be able to physically overpower him if it came down to it. He was six and a half feet tall, where as she barely cracked over five and a half by a few inches, while being at least double her weight. Antoine on the other hand was only slightly taller than herself, and far more similar to Charles in build. Him she could overpower, especially with how much adrenaline was pumping through her system.

Joséphine silently opened her door, sticking her head out and looking down the hallway. The house was almost silent, dull noise coming from the TV on downstairs. No one had heard what she’d done so far, just as she’d planned it. She knew Antoine would be in his room, listening to music while doing his homework from school. Jacques was in his room, even though he’d left home several years before, back for a family dinner. Luckily, he had not brought Caroline with him. Josié had been dreading having to deal with her as well, but luck was on her side. Caroline had been working late and had been unable to come. The woman had always been nice to her, and it would be tragic for her to have been a part of this.

She padded down the hallway, creeping close to Jacques’ door. She slowly stuck her head around the door frame, spying her second oldest brother at his desk, sitting on a stool with a large book open in front of him and pen writing feverishly across the page. Over the past several years, she’d only seen her brother do one of two things. Work or rape her. She’d wondered what the hell had attracted Caroline in the first place. When she thought about the years prior to Jacques beginning on her, her brother was not a nice person to her, ever. While the rest of the family maintained the façade outside of home, Jacques had always been cruel or so obviously pretending. He seemed to hate Joséphine for whatever reason. For what, she had never figured out. Of all her family, aside from her father, she was fairly certain this part of her revenge would be the most satisfying.

She took a step toward him but stopped. She’d hidden a weapon in this room to deal with her largest brother, a huge serrated hunting knife she’d acquired, filing the serrations in herself to ensure maximum pain, but now she had a better idea. The knife had always run the risk of Jacques overpowering her, and while she wanted to ensure his death was as painful as possible, she was never sure it would’ve worked.

She now had a more silent idea that would allow her to take her time with Antoine, if that’s what she wanted. She wasn’t sure about her twin brother yet. She was certain she was going to murder him, that much would not change, but the severity of his pain before his death was something she’d genuinely agonised over. Did Antoine deserve as painful a death as the rest of them? Probably not, now that she’d thought about it. He could’ve taken advantage of her over the years, but he hadn’t. Did he not have whatever fucked up part of the brain that the rest of their family did? Was he the only one who was relatively normal? Not normal enough to help her, but normal to realise it was wrong and not to participate? Maybe.

Joséphine took the steps slowly towards her brother, ensuring every footfall on the carpet was as quiet as possible. She couldn’t risk him realising she was there. Jacques just kept writing away, the pages covered in numbers and other banking gibberish Josié didn’t understand. She now stood right behind him, towering over his large frame. She’d never felt so powerful. Knowing what she was about to do.

With as quick a movement as she could manage, Joséphine snatched the pen from his right hand, picking up another with her left. Jacques’ head began to turn, but Josié was faster. Both pens stabbed into his neck, sinking two inches into the flesh with each. She pulled them out repeatedly, stabbing again and again. Jacques tried to reach back to stop her, falling backwards off his stool and taking down Joséphine with him. He landed on her, forcing all of the air out of his sister’s lungs, her hands still managing to continue her frenzied stabbing. He was suffocating on his own blood as the pens pierced his airway again and again.

When his attempts to stop her finally slowed, Joséphine shoved both pens in as hard as she could, holding them there. Her lips were right next to his ear, perfect for whispering her final words to one of her tormentors.

“How does it feel to be the powerless one, Jacques?” His response was gurgled out, “How does it feel to have all control ripped away from you? To know that there’s nothing you could do to prevent what is happening?” She manoeuvred her body under his, repositioning her head to allow her to sink her teeth into his neck and rip away a chunk of ruined flesh before spitting it out. The taste of iron in her mouth did not bother Joséphine in the slightest, “This is what I’ve felt since I was seven, and Papa fucked me for the first time. It all led to this moment. But you… at least the rest had the decency to try to make it _pleasurable_ for me. You… you just raped me as hard as you could. And this is what you get for that.”

Jacques’ movements finally stopped completely, his whole body going limp. Joséphine rolled him off of her, quite a difficult task considering his size. She felt giddy, lying on the floor next to Jacques with his mangled neck. The pens jutted out at awkward angles, the wounds they’d made still jetting out blood every so often. She must have hit a major artery considering the amount that was still issuing forth. The smile once more spread over his face.

Three down, three to go.

Joséphine got back to her feet, taking a second to stare down at Jacques before moving from the room. She came to Antoine’s room, the door ever so slightly ajar, music playing from within. Some pop song that Josié could barely hear over the beating of her heart. She pushed the door open, staring at her twin brother’s back. He was just sitting there as though nothing was wrong, nodding his head along to the beat. As though barely twenty minutes ago, his sister wasn’t being raped by their eldest brother just down the hall. Antoine had always been good at seeming to not notice anything that happened in this house.

Josié moved to the small stereo, clicking the power button. Antoine’s head rose up from where he hunched over his homework, turning to look at why the music had stopped. The pen dropped from his hand at the sight. His eyes scanned by instinct over his twin sister, completely naked, facing away from him. Her whole body was covered in blood, her ass and back smeared with the worst of it. She slowly turned, meeting Antoine’s gaze. Her front was an even more grizzly sight, the paleness of her skin barely visible under the red. Her breasts and the flat planes of her stomach seemed to be covered in the most of it, her face looking as though she’d at least tried to wipe some of it off.

Joséphine smiled, showing more blood staining her teeth, “Hello Antoine.”

“J-j-j-Josié… w-w-what are you doing?”

“What I should’ve done years ago.” She moved to the door, shutting it with a resounding click, “Taking my revenge.”

He tried to maintain his innocence, “Revenge? For what?”

Joséphine’s anger flared up, her lips twisting into a sneer, “For what? Don’t be so fucking naïve. You know exactly what for.” She took a step closer, her brother rolling backwards in his chair until it hit his desk. He was terrified of her, and she hadn’t even done anything to him yet, “I want to ask you something, Antoine.”

Antoine vigoursly nodded, eyes frantically searching for a way to get out of the room and away from his twin sister, “Anything.” His voice came out barely above a whisper.

She strode closer, gripping the armrests on either side of him, blocking him from getting out of the chair, “Why?” She paused for a second, “Why did you never even _try_ to help me? I know you knew. I know you’ve walked in before. I’ve seen you.”

Antoine swallowed, knowing there was nothing he could say to convince his sister that he knew nothing of what she was talking about. Of course, he did. He’d walked in on their father and Joséphine when he and his twin were eight years old. He’d seen Josié and Fabien together. He’d almost walked in on Charles and her. He’d been traumatised by the violence that Jacques had taken his sister from behind. But he’d never done anything to stop it. Never even mentioned what he’d seen to anyone. No matter how much he knew he needed to.

He gave an honest answer, “I was afraid.”

Joséphine’s eyes narrowed at his admission, “Afraid? What have you got to be afraid of? Were your brothers and fathers _raping_ you for years? Were they stripping you of even a chance at a normal life right from the start? Were you terrified of when it might happen next, even after it had become a routine and they all seemed to respect that each one had a night that was theirs and theirs alone to _fuck you_ as long and as hard as they wanted? Answer me that brother.” She leaned forward, hissing into his ear, “ _What the fuck have you got to be afraid of?_ ”

Josié pulled her head back, maintaining her position of blocking any chance of escape from her clutches. Antoine couldn’t look away from her steely gaze, “I’m afraid of you.”

The sneer melted of her face, replaced by an utterly blank expression. That too slowly faded as a smirk spread across her lips, “Good.” She let go of the armrests, calmly grabbing the front of his shirt and lifting him to his feet, “You should be.”

Before he could react, Joséphine hooked her leg around the back of his ankles, sweeping his feet out from under him. He crashed to the floor, his sister standing over him for barely a moment before she sunk down too, straddling over his chest, knees holding his arms to the floor. She reached down, wrapping her fingers around his neck till she had a tight and complete grip around his throat.

Joséphine’s grip began to tighten even as Antoine struggled beneath her. He tried to beg her to stop, only strangled gasps escaping before she’d completely cut off his airway. She kept her hold over his throat, using all of the strength she could muster to crush it as much as she possibly could. Antoine’s face began to pale as he tried desperately to get air into his lungs. Joséphine’s face did not show remorse whatsoever, choking the life from her twin brother with every passing moment.

“You could’ve helped me.” Joséphine taunted him through clenched teeth, “You could’ve saved me.” His legs kicked up in an attempt to dislodge her to no avail, “Could’ve let me know you cared.” Antoine’s eyes bulged from his head, skin gaining a slight blue tinge, “That I had _someone_ on my side through all this shit.” His struggling slowed, his vision beginning to darken from the edges, “Even just the knowledge that you knew it was wrong would’ve been enough. I wouldn’t have had to do this now. You could’ve lived Antoine. If you hadn’t been such a fucking coward.”

Antoine’s limbs felt like they weighed a tonne, his muscles becoming harder and harder to move with every passing moment. His lungs felt like they were on fire, his entire chest restricting under the complete lack of oxygen. His struggling was for naught. Joséphine seemed to have the strength of five, her knees holding his arms firmly to the ground and crushing his throat completely. There was nothing he could do to save himself.

He wanted to say he was sorry. That he’d always wanted to help her. But she was right, he was a coward through and through. And even if he could say sorry, it would never be enough, knowing how much pain and torture Josié had gone through at the hands of their family. Could he have stopped it all? Probably not. But he could’ve at least tried. The last thoughts that passed through his mind as his vision darkened completely, was an apology he would never get to give, that would have never been enough.

Joséphine kept a tight grip of Antoine’s neck long after his struggling had stopped and his eyes rolled into the back of his head, unseeing. She had to be sure he was gone, not able to take a single chance that he was still alive. After ten minutes, she finally relented, loosening her grip and falling sideways away from his body.

She felt a few stray tears spring to her eyes, quickly wiped away. Antoine probably didn’t deserve to die, but he had to. Nothing could go wrong with her plan now, not when she was so close. She’d thought the only one she’d feel even slightly guilty over murdering would be Antoine, and so far, she was right. He’d never done anything exactly wrong, just his complete denial of everything else going on around him. In her mind, that was enough to seal his death, but she still felt just a twinge of regret at his fate.

Josié shook her head out, refocusing on her next steps. She couldn’t sit here the whole time in a pile of regret over her twin’s death. She still had two more people to deal with before the night was up. The first was in the kitchen downstairs. The second would be home in an hour or two. She had something special planned for her father.

Joséphine crept down the stairs, keeping low behind the balustrade just in case her mother happened to look through from the kitchen. She could hear the sound of water boiling, bubbling away on the stove. Adrianna often made some sort of pasta when the entire family would be coming, an easy dish to make a lot of without much effort. Josié snuck towards the kitchen, doing little to hide her body but still trying to make as little noise as possible.

She moved into the kitchen, her mother facing away from her at the stove. Joséphine could feel her anger boiling over just like the pot on the stove. Here was another person who should’ve helped her the moment they knew. Unlike Antoine, Josié knew she’d feel absolutely no remorse for killing Adrianna. This woman had explicitly told her to suck it up and let her father and brothers do what they wanted to her. It was her ‘duty’ as a woman of the family.

Joséphine picked a knife up from the counter, calmly holding it by her side. Adrianna turned at the sound, eyes going wide at the sight of her daughter’s naked, blood-covered body, “Hello mother.”

“Josié? What happened?” Her eyes travelled down Joséphine’s body, realisation dawning on her, “What have you done?”

“Killed all of my brothers.” She said it so nonchalantly, Adrianna wasn’t even sure she’d heard her daughter correctly. She brought the knife up in front of her, pushing the tip of the blade into a finger, playing with the sharp implement, “No less than they deserved frankly.”

Adrianna almost fell to the floor in grief, having to clutch the counter with both hands just to stay on her feet, “You killed my babies?”

Joséphine could feel her body begin to shake with rage, pulling the knife away and pointing it at the woman standing opposite her, “Your babies? And what about me, Mama? What am I? Am I the mistake? The one that never should have been? Is that why you’ve been so fucking cruel to me my whole life?”

“Cruel?” Adrianna’s own expression twisted with anger mixed with agony, “I loved you with all my heart-”

“BULL-FUCKING-SHIT!” Joséphine’s scream silenced her mother’s attempt at explanation, tears pooling in her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. She hadn’t been expecting to feel anything but rage in this moment, her own reaction surprising her, “Is it love that made you allow them to rape me? Is it love that made me think that this was normal? Is it love that told me it was my fucking duty to the family to allow them to have my body over and over and over?” She crossed the room with a few quick steps, pressing the blade to her mother’s throat while the other hand gripped the back of it so Adrianna couldn’t get away, “You never loved me, Adrianna. I was just an object that happened to come out of you at the same time as your baby.”

Adrianna couldn’t react to the knife to her throat or the absolute hatred in her daughter’s eyes. What was she supposed to say? She knew exactly what her sons and husband were doing to her all these years. She’d even told her to just let it happen, but not for the reason Joséphine thought. Her husband had never been a kind man, but until ten years ago, she never thought he would be capable of what he’d done to their daughter. When she’d confronted him about it, François had threatened to kill both Josié and Adrianna herself if she ever attempted to do anything about it. And she’d believed him. He had the power and connections in their small corner of the world to ensure he’d never be charged with anything and that there would be absolutely no repercussions for his actions. At the same time, he’d made sure Adrianna would never be able to escape with Joséphine, no matter how much she wanted to, no matter how far she might run. She and her daughter were trapped.

Joséphine’s chest rose and fell with heavy, angry breaths at her mother’s silence, “Just as I thought, nothing to fucking say.” She threw the knife away, taking half a step back from her mother. A heavy sobbing breath threatened to break her resolve and allow her mother to live. But she couldn’t, not after everything. She took that half step forward, slowly reaching up and gripping the back of her mother’s head, threading her fingers through Adrianna’s hair. The older woman did nothing to stop her. “I. Hate. You.”

With those final words hissed into her mother’s face, Josié gripped that little bit harder. She spun her mother’s whole body around, wrenching her head down and slamming it into the counter. It was instantly stained with blood. She continued to smash her mother’s head into the counter top, breaking every bone in her face. She would pull back with all of her strength before bringing it straight back down with the same.

“AM I A GOOD LITTLE GIRL NOW, MAMA? AM I?” Joséphine screamed as she continued her brutal assault on the woman who had birthed her, “IS THIS WHAT GOOD LITTLE GIRLS DO?!”

After what seemed like an eternity, the marble counter top cracked under the assault, Adrianna’s head going straight through. Joséphine stopped, allowing her arms to go slack and the grip on her mother’s hair loose. Adrianna’s body fell to the floor with a resounding thump, sliding down the cabinets below the counter briefly and leaving a gory trail in her wake. Joséphine could feel her heart racing, staring at the huge mass of blood and gore that now covered the counter top. She could feel blood begin to pool at her feet from her mother’s corpse, closing her eyes and almost relishing the feeling. Five of her immediate family were dead. Only one remained.

All she had to do was wait.

* * *

**Northern France**

**11:30pm, Eight Years Ago**

Joséphine sat alone in the dark lounge room, calmly reclining in the armchair. Her fingers drummed on the metal of the object in her hands, waiting for _him_ to walk through the door. She was almost getting impatient.

She’d spent the last hours performing the grisliest part of her plan. On the coffee table a few feet from her sat five items. Five items that were leaking sanguine fluid onto the smooth timber.

The decapitated heads of her mother and four brothers.

The serrated knife she’d originally intended to use on Jacques proved the perfect instrument to remove heads from bodies. It was now buried an inch into the table next to the heads, coated in a combination of all of their blood.

She’d been tempted to arrange the bodies around the room as a sick joke for her father, but moving Jacques’ body had proved essentially impossible. He was too bulky. She’d had to settle for the decapitations.

Her next move had been to retrieve the weapon currently sitting in her hands. It hadn’t been easy, breaking a heavy padlock with the small set of bolt cutters she’d managed to find in the garage a week ago. But she was far too determined to let a piece of metal stop her. Breaking that off had given her access to her father’s gun locker. And the rifle currently lying in her hands. She was worried that her accuracy wouldn’t be too great with it, but hopefully the sound of the first bullet would shock her father enough that her second would hit him even if the first didn’t.

The sound of a car engine caught her attention. It got louder for a few moments before finally switching off. She’d know that sound anywhere. The sound of her father’s police car. Joséphine brought the rifle up to her shoulder, aiming it through the door she knew her father would walk through in less than a minute. She evened her breathing out, finger hovering over the trigger.

François turned off his car, sighing as he leant his head back against the headrest. It had been a long day, leaving home before 5am and he was finally home at nearly midnight. He was not particularly looking forward to microwaving whatever his wife had made for dinner, but he didn’t exactly have much choice. No take away shops had been open in town when he’d passed them on the way home, so it was that or starve. He wondered if Josié was still awake for something, but the complete darkness of his home told him that wasn’t the case.

He finally decided to get out of the car after several minutes of sitting there, trying to close the door quietly. He fished his front door key from his pocket, opening the door quietly and shutting just a little too loudly. He cringed for a moment before moving through the foyer and moving into the lounge room, flicking on the light. The sight that greeted him caused the bag in his hand to drop to the floor.

Joséphine smiled at him from the armchair, pointing the rifle straight at him. François’ gaze travelled first across the coffee table, the heads of his family sitting there, expressions ranging from surprise to outright horror. Then, his daughter. Josié’s naked body was covered in blood, head to toe. The look in her eyes told him all he needed to know about what had transpired. He didn’t need his years of police experience to deduce that.

“Joséphine… what have you done?”

She cocked her head to the side, an almost confused expression crossing over her face, “I’ve been asked that quite a few times in the last few hours. And my answer hasn’t changed. It’s quite simple really; I’ve done nothing less than what you all deserve.” He took a step closer, Josié raising the gun a little higher and stopping him from moving again, “For what you all did to me.”

“Put the gun down, and we can talk.” He raised his hand up, trying to get in a position to leap at her and wrestle the rifle away.

“We’re way past fucking talking you son of a bitch.” Josié didn’t give him a chance to stop her, quickly moving the barrel down and firing straight into his knee. Despite her worries that it wouldn’t be, her bullet was accurate, shattering the bone apart and forcing her father to fall backwards.

François screamed in pain, clutching at his destroyed knee, blood pouring from it, “YOU FUCKING LITTLE WHORE!”

“Oh ho ho, I’m a whore, am I?” Joséphine pulled the bolt back on her rifle, the spent cartridge flying out and slotting a new one in ready to fire. She stood to her feet, padding across the room toward her crippled father. She stood over where he was lying, grinning down at him. She let the rifle fall slightly in her hands, pressing the barrel up against his uninjured knee. She pulled the trigger again, another scream. She bent over at the hips, moving her face close to his, “If I’m a whore, you’re my fucking creator.”

François growled out through his pain, “You should be grateful…”

The butt of the rifle whipped around, smashing into his jaw and sending François’ head straight to the ground, “Grateful for what, Papa? That you ruined my life? That you defiled my body? That you’ve fucked me up enough and driven me to murder my entire family?”

“I made you strong. So, you could take whatever the world threw at you.”

“That’s the reason?” Joséphine couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “THAT’S THE REASON YOU RAPED ME FOR A DECADE? TO MAKE ME STRONG?” She began to laugh, stepping away from her father and turning her back briefly before spinning back around, “WELL BRAVO! YOU FUCKING DID IT! I’M AS STRONG AS I CAN BE! I’VE KILLED MY BROTHERS! I’VE KILLED MY MOTHER! AND I’M ABOUT TO KILL YOU! THE WORST OF THE LOT!” Her bellows echoed through the house, only interrupted by François’ groans of pain. She pulled the bolt on the rifle again, marching forward and aiming for barely a second before letting a bullet fly straight through his right elbow. She reloaded again, doing the same to his left. She almost threw the gun away before reconsidering.

“Killing me won’t solve anything.” That he could still speak spoke to François Denault’s willpower.

“Maybe not… but it will make me feel better.” Joséphine reached down, grabbing the front of his pants and squeezing as hard as she could. She could feel the thing she’d been penetrated by so many times crush beneath her grip. She let go, tearing his pants away and exposing her father’s genitals to the air. She reloaded one more time, quivering with rage as she aimed directly at the head of his penis. She grinned as she briefly looked up into his eyes. The fear she found there brought her more pleasure than she’d ever known. She pulled the trigger.

The rifle impacted against the wall, sliding down from the hole the collision had made. Joséphine stared down at her father, joints shattered by bullets, finally castrated and emasculated, just like she’d been dreaming since she’d begun to plot her revenge.

“I’ve thought about this moment for so long.” Joséphine barked out a laugh, “Having you finally at my mercy. Holding no fear for you. Where I have all the power. And you know what?” She reached down and gripped his chin in her hands. She simply stared at him for a few seconds, “I’m bitterly disappointed.” She paused, thinking about how that might sound, “Not in what I've done. This has frankly been the greatest day of my life.” Josié smiled, pushing his head back to the ground, “But in you. That I was ever afraid of you. Now that I've got you here... you’re just a small man. A small man who felt big when he broke his daughter. And you’ll die like that, Papa. Die as the tiny, insignificant stain on humanity that you are. Die as you are _broken. By. ME._ ”

Joséphine grabbed hold of her father’s ankles, dragging his body closer to the centre of the room. While she’d had to kill the rest of her family quickly, she’d make François suffer before she’d finally give him the release of death. She calmly retrieved the bat she’d murdered Charles with, twirling it through the air briefly. It was still coated in his blood, staining the smooth aluminium. It came down hard on one of his feet, the crack of bones and the accompanying scream music to Josié’s ears. She repeated the action on his other foot, admiring the symmetry of his broken feet.

“I’ll admit, this is more fun than I thought it would be. I mean, I expected some form of satisfaction but... I’m really enjoying this.” The thought slightly disturbed Joséphine, but not enough to stop her. Maiming and murdering her family had started a fire in her soul, something that needed to be fed so it could burn brighter.

The bat came down on François’ knees next, blood spattering everywhere from the gunshot wounds and damage the metal caused. Joséphine drowned out her father’s protests, continuing her path towards the top of his legs. Soon, every bone in his lower extremities was all but dust. Josié was amazed he was still awake. Still staring at her. Still begging for mercy that she would never give. She moved to the base of his body, kicking his shattered legs apart and exposing his destroyed groin. The bullet had already done a number on it, annihilating his penis to practically nothing and exploding his testicles till they were just loose skin hanging from him. But that wasn’t enough for her. He needed to suffer more.

The bat came down between his legs, Francois unable to protect himself from her attacks, his arms staying uselessly by his sides. It came down several more times, expanding the wound outwards and turning his groin into nothing more than mangled flesh and broken bones. Joséphine had hit him hard enough that she swore she could see the white of his pelvis through the blood pouring from him.

The bat fell from her hands, replaced in seconds by the large hunting knife Joséphine had to work out of the coffee table. She held it aloft to the light, admiring the streaks of blood still drying on it. It would be stained far more by the time she was done with it. Josié moved to stand over her father’s body, foot on either side of his hips. She sunk down to her knees, holding herself over him.

François was still awake. How, Josié wasn’t sure. She hadn’t really expected him to last more than a minute against what she had planned. She could see his lips moving, tears coming from his eyes as he begged for his life, but she heard nothing. The adrenaline pumping through her veins was enough to silence his wails. All she could hear was the thundering beat of her heart and the practically deafening thoughts of utter joy at what she was doing. This felt _good._ Better than anything ever had.

The knife stabbed into his gut; a few inches left of centre. Joséphine continued to push the blade down till only the handle was left above his skin. She held it there for a moment, keeping the blade steady and the cut clean. The lack of movement only lasted a few moments before Josié grabbed the handle with both hands, wrenching it across and opening François’ abdomen to the air. Blood spilled out, the warm fluid soaking Josié’s hands and her thighs. The sensation was almost therapeutic, the young woman revelling in the feeling. She pulled the knife slowly from his body, clutching it in one of her hands.

Joséphine looked up into her father’s eyes. He was finally beginning to fade, she could tell. The light in his eyes was beginning to dim, his muscles unable to keep his head aloft anymore as it sunk back to the floor. She leaned forward, placing her hands on either side of his head, her long blond hair hanging like curtains around their faces, shielding them both from the outside world and giving a kind of privacy.

Her head came down, parallel to his face before moving to the side, her lips brushing against his ear. She whispered out a promise, one she knew she would keep, “ _I’ll see you in Hell, you sick son of a bitch._ ”

Joséphine reared back, gripping the knife tightly in both hands above her head. With a deafening scream from her lungs, the blade came down, penetrating François’ chest right in the centre, straight through his heart. She watched as life faded completely from his eyes. He was finally gone.

She stayed like that, gripping the knife handle with white knuckles. She screamed even more forcefully, ripping the blade out and stabbing again and again into François’ chest. Josié knew he was already dead, but kept going, making a complete and utter mess of his chest cavity. She couldn’t stop herself until the knife was hitting the floor with every stab. She finally let go, not even enough flesh to hold the blade up, falling into the pool of blood and gore that was left of her father’s chest.

Her breathing was heavy, her breasts rising and falling with shuddering quickness. It was finally over. She sat straddled over her father’s corpse for a few moments, stunned into inaction that it was done. Finally, she stood shakily to her feet. Her plan had never extended beyond this moment. She had no idea what to do next. She’d been so preoccupied with just getting her revenge, she had absolutely nothing in her mind.

If she stayed here, she’d be caught, undoubtedly. She’d go to jail for the rest of her life and she’d likely never see the sun or moon again, considering the brutality with which she’d murdered her entire family. No matter what they’d all done to her, no one on a jury would care. They’d lock her up and throw away the key. And she would never deny her guilt. She was far too proud of her actions to do that. That left only one option.

She had to run. Run far away from here, likely leave the country. That was the only way to even possible continue her life outside of a jail cell. She couldn’t even stay in Europe, every single country would send her back to France to face trial, she knew that. She had to flee, and she had to do it now.

Without thinking, Joséphine moved towards the front door, grabbing the rifle on the way and clutching it with both hands tight to her chest. She came outside into the cold night air, feeling it on every inch of her skin. It felt utterly freeing, her eyes fluttering closed at the sensation. She breathed in, feeling it fill her lungs with new hope. Hope. Something she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Joséphine made it nearly to her front gate before stopping. She looked down at her body, eyes widening at the sight. She was outside, in the middle of the night, clutching a rifle which she’d used to murder her father, was completely naked, and was utterly covered in blood from head to toe. Her mind roared back into gear, realising exactly what this would look like if anyone saw her. They’d accuse her of exactly what she had done. She quickly spun on her heel, half running towards the door.

“Josié?” The young woman froze. She knew that voice anywhere. One of the only people in her entire life who had ever been kind to her, “What are you doing outside at this hour?” In the direction the voice was coming from, most of Joséphine’s body would be hidden by a large hedge, but that would prove insufficient once they’d rounded it to the gate itself, “Is Jacques still inside? He was meant to be home an hour ago and I got… worried…”

The voice trailed off, coming from directly behind her. Joséphine felt actual tears of regret spring to her eyes, knowing what she now had to do. Her house was far enough away from others that no one would hear the gun shot, at least she hoped. She slowly turned to face the voice, raising the rifle to brace against her shoulder. Her eyes were confronted by a woman, her brother’s wife, “Caroline… you shouldn’t be here. _You_ _can’t_ _be here_.”

“Josié… what happened?” Caroline held up her hands, trying to show she meant no harm to her sister-in-law.

Joséphine shook with rage, all of it coming back in an instant, “I finally did it. I stopped them all.”

“Stopped them from what?” Caroline already knew the answer.

“FROM RAPING ME!” Joséphine’s scream echoed off the surrounding landscape, bouncing back to them several times before finally falling silent. Caroline took a step closer, “STOP! Don’t come any closer.” She raised the rifle a little higher, “Why did you have to come looking? You weren’t supposed to be here. You’re supposed to be at work! I made sure of it, I had it all planned out!”

Caroline had never seen Josié look so distressed, “Josié, listen to me. Can you do that for me?” The young woman cautiously nodded, still not lowering the rifle one inch, “I can help you, if you let me. I can get you away from here.”

Joséphine was genuinely confused, “Why? Why would you help me?” She shook her head, trying to understand Caroline’s motives, “I just murdered your husband for fuck’s sake!”

Caroline shook her head, “I was going to leave him.” She took another step forward, Joséphine doing nothing this time to stop her, “I... I found out what he’d been doing, with you... and I confronted him.”

Joséphine’s aim wavered, keeping her gaze locked with Caroline’s. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “How long have you known? H-h-how did you find out?” Her voice came out as a whisper.

Caroline swallowed, “When we came over last month, I saw him go into your bedroom… And I looked inside…”

“Last month?” The gun lowered, slightly, begging to be right that Caroline actually meant it when she said she’d help her, “What did you say to him?”

“I told him I was leaving him. That he was the most monstrous person I'd ever had the misfortune of meeting, and that I couldn’t believe I'd been so wrong about him after all these years. He confessed everything right then and there, including that François, Charles and Fabien had been doing the same thing to you.” Caroline stepped close enough to Joséphine that she was able to gently lay her hand on the top of the rifle’s barrel and push it down so that it was pointing at the ground, “I told Jacques that if he didn’t come forward with what he and the rest of them had done to you, I would. And I would make sure they went down for the rest of their miserable lives. And if all else failed...” A darkness passed over Caroline’s features that Joséphine had never seen before, “I’d kill him.”

Joséphine laughed somewhat unsurely, a smile tugging at the edge of her lips, “Well, guess I beat you to it.”

Caroline nodded, a little disturbed by Josié’s joy at the murder of her family, but she at least understood it somewhat. She reached forward, gently taking the rifle from Joséphine’s hands and laying it against the hedge next to them. Her hands came up, wiping some of the blood from Josié’s cheeks before pulling the young woman into a tight embrace.

Joséphine froze at the sudden contact, her entire body going rigid. She was unsure of these current events, mind scrambling for what they might mean. After a few moments, her own arms came up and wrapped around Caroline’s middle, pulling her in tighter. She laid her head down on her sister-in-law’s shoulder, resolving in that exact moment that she couldn’t possibly hurt Caroline.

Caroline drew back and placed her hands on either side of Joséphine’s face. The front of her dress was now covered in blood just the same as Josié, but she didn’t seem to care, “My car is just around the corner, ok? I’m going to go get it, and I’ll take you back to my place so you can get cleaned up and I can organise to get you out, alright?”

“How?” Joséphine demanded answers, she needed them before she could possibly go anywhere, “How can you get me out of here?”

Caroline knew that Joséphine was scared, obviously not of what she’d done, she seemed all too proud of that, but the possible consequences, “I have a friend who works on a container ship. He sails from the Port of Le Havre to America at least every month. And it just so happens his ship is due to arrive in two days and set sail the following.”

Joséphine scrunched her brow up, “Why does it sound like you’ve been planning this?”

She smiled, “Because I have. I knew what your father would do if Jacques confessed, and I couldn’t let you go through that. I’ve been planning how to do this since the night I learned of what my hus-” She cut herself off. Technically Jacques wasn’t her husband anymore, he was just a corpse, an evil horrible corpse, “Of what Jacques was doing.”

Joséphine believed her, against all sense. Maybe Caroline could actually help her escape. She waited behind that hedge for several minutes until Caroline came back with her car. She climbed into the back seat, wrapping herself with a blanket that Caroline handed her. They set off, leaving the Denault family home behind for the last time.

Josié would never return, she knew that. She never wanted to. The building held so much pain for her, she was fairly certain she’d burn it to the ground if she ever saw it again, no matter what might happen to it.

She had to leave France behind. Start again somewhere else. America it seemed, if Caroline’s plan went off without a hitch.

Joséphine smiled to herself.

She was finally free.

* * *

**The Boss’ Warehouse, 100 Miles from Stilwater**

**1:00am**

“And of course, Caroline kept her promise. She helped me escape France, I boarded the container ship and came to America. I still talk to her from time to time. Sometimes send her a letter. I think she might be the only person on the entire Earth who knows my real name, where I came from and what I’m doing now. Except for you, I suppose.” The Boss smiled to herself, “I don’t think she really approves of what I do now, but… I doubt many people would.”

Ernest’s vision was swimming in front of him. The blood loss was starting to get to him, his mind hard to focus on any one thing. Joséphine’s story was the one thing that had allowed him to stay conscious, focusing on her voice. Her story had both intrigued and horrified him. The things she’d done to her family were horrendous, but somewhat justified. He was frankly surprised that she’d taken a full decade before she’d finally snapped, given what she was like now, dolling out violence like it was candy. Maybe that event was what had really moulded her into the psychopathic sociopath she was now.

“Now you know my story.” The Boss moved behind Veteran Child, placing the whip on the table dangerously close to his head. She gripped either side of his face, threading his dreadlocks through her fingers before tightening her grip till she had two fists tangled in them. She began to pull away, pulling the hair straight and beginning to strain at the hair follicles, “And it’s time for you to die.”

“Wait wait wait wait wait… please… don’t kill me.” His body was now numb. The pain that should’ve been radiating from his myriad of wounds was now just a dull ache covering everything, “I can help you… defeat the General! And Mr Sunshine!” Tears pooled in his eyes, the look in them begging for mercy, “I’m useful!”

The Boss cocked an eyebrow, considering his proposal for the barest of moments. Then, she began to laugh, the most terrifying sound that Ernest had ever heard. There was something off in it, a madness that he hadn’t heard from her before, a joy in the sound. She was enjoying everything she was doing. His pain gave her pleasure, “You think I need help? You really think I need a drugged-out DJ to take down a gang that I’m already doing an excellent job of?” She leaned down next to his ear, whispering, “Stilwater is mine. It was mine five years ago, and it’s mine now. I’m the fucking Empress of Stilwater. Your high ass would only slow me down.”

“Then what’s Shaundi?” He knew it was the wrong thing to say the moment the words passed her lips.

Her fist came rushing down, straight into his nose. Her other hand pulled hard, ripping the hair right out of his head. The ends of the dreadlocks were bloodied, dripping onto the floor from the roots they’d been wrenched out of. The Boss moved around, gripping his hair with her left hand, while her right repeatedly came rushing down into his face, “DON’T. YOU. EVER. SAY. HER. NAME. AGAIN!” Each word was punctuated with a punch, further injuring Veteran Child’s face. She pulled away, trying to contain the rage that had surged up through her chest. Her attempt to stop it only heightened the feeling, her arms quivering with rage. She closed her eyes, choosing instead to lean into it, “It’s time to die.”

She moved back to her tool table, picking up both knives and gripping them tightly in her hands. The Boss moved to the table, climbing atop it and kneeling down, resting at Veteran Child’s knee level. She spun the blades in her hands, holding both in a backwards grip. They streaked down, a blur of steel burying straight through each of his hands. They barely stayed there for more than a second, ripping out with a spray of blood and returning to his body through his elbows.

His stomach was pierced before he could react, both knives scraping the table underneath him. Joséphine’s hands moved in a frenzy, stabbing his gut over and over. He would pass out in a few seconds but at this point, she didn’t really care about causing pain. This was all about revenge for what he’d done to Shaundi and her own satisfaction.

With the blades buried deep within his ruined stomach, the Boss twisted her weapons, turning them within him and shoving them up under his rib cage. With a great show of strength, she pulled them both free from his body, the knifes singing back up through the air, holding them high above her head. She put her hands together, holding the blades side by side in a double fisted grip.

Within seconds, Veteran Child’s heart had multiple stab wounds, ending his life instantly. Joséphine continued her assault, barely slowing down as her hands brought each knife away from each other and continued her frenzy, turning into his chest into little more than mounds of destroyed flesh and mutilated organs. Ribs cracked and shattered beneath the knives’ tips, dulling them down to near rounded.

Finally, after far too long, the knives fell from her grip, climbing down off the table and nearly collapsing to a sitting position on the floor. She’d only had her front splashed with blood before, now she was positively drenched. She only been like this once since the murder of her family. It was an almost familiar sensation. An almost pleasant one.

The Boss looked up at the table, Veteran Child’s mutilated corpse lying still. Blood was dripping from nearly every edge of the timber, staining the concrete floor red. The sight brought a smile to her face, the people who knew who she was once more brought down to just one. It was a freeing feeling. Maybe she ought to do this more often.

Once her breathing had finally calmed down, the leader of the Saints climbed to her feet, retrieving all of her implements and repacking her duffel bag. She hoisted it over her shoulder, carrying it straight back to the car. She sighed as she tossed it into the trunk, realising she was going to have to get the entire thing industrially cleaned once she got back to Stilwater. She very much doubted the blood she was currently covered in wouldn’t soak through the seats once she sat down. And, while her warehouse in the middle of nowhere was excellent for torturing and murdering where no one would be able to hear, it didn’t have any amenities aside from that. Not even a tap. So, cleaning it was.

The Boss moved back inside, momentarily standing over Ernest’s body. It was little more than a sack of meat and shattered bones at this point, but she still had to move it. She might need this place again in the future, and that could be soon, and it was best if she could start immediately on whoever she brought here, rather than have to clean up an old mess to do it. She grabbed hold of his ankles, dragging the body towards the door. She hoped the corpse wouldn’t separate into more than one part, and luckily for her, it remained intact, even as she dragged it dozens of metres away from her warehouse. She’d left a trail of blood back, but it didn’t matter. The wildlife in these parts would make short work of it and likely eat any other evidence. One of the perks of building out here in the middle of nowhere.

Joséphine climbed back into her Hammerhead, starting the custom muscle car up and pulling back onto the dirt road. She smiled to herself. She’d dealt the Sons of Samedi a major blow today, and it hadn’t even been one she’d planned. They would be finished soon; she was sure of it. For now, though, she was focused on getting back to the crib. She had to make sure something hadn’t happened in her absence. While she trusted Gat and Pierce, it always felt better when she was there to make sure things went smoothly.

* * *

**Purgatory, Stilwater**

**3:30am**

The Boss stood in the elevator, waiting for it to descend to the hideout’s main level. The two guards at the door had been terrified as she’d gotten out of her car, barely stammering out a greeting as she got into the elevator. They, like nearly all of the Saints, had never seen her like this. She didn’t pay them any attention, just wanting to get back into her mini-apartment and wash all the blood off her body and get out of these clothes.

The metal doors opened smoothly, the music that pumped through Purgatory day and night assaulting the Boss’ senses. She payed it no mind, strutting down the hallway like she owned the place, which she essentially did. The gang members and associates in the hall way split apart in front of her, avoiding her like the plague. Finally, she stood at the top of the stairs of the crib, scanning over the crowd briefly.

Nearly every single person in the entire place was staring at her, including Saints, strippers and any randoms who happened to be here. The DJ accidentally turned hit a switch, the music disappearing and allowing a deathly silence to settle over everyone.

“Holy fuck…” Pierce broke the silence, staring with wide eyes at the Boss. He thought Gat had been kidding about the Boss coming back covered in blood, but now he might have to start believing everything he said about the Boss. Her pale skin was completely red, her long, dark purple hair almost matted with the amount of blood.

Slower than it should’ve been, everyone began to avoid their eyes from the Boss, returning to whatever they were doing. A figure sat up from the couch at the bottom of the stairs, looking around herself somewhat slowly. Shaundi’s voice cut the silence again, significantly delayed compared to everyone else’s reaction, “Hey… where’d the music go?” The joint between her lips almost fell out when she finally caught sight of the leader of the Saints.

The Boss descended the stairs, walking right up to the back of the couch, reaching out and taking the joint from Shaundi’s lips. She took a long drag, letting the smoke pool in her mouth for a brief moment before exhaling over her head. She smiled, handing the joint back to Shaundi, the young woman looking down at it with a little shock. The end of it was stained with blood, the Boss’ or someone else’s, Shaundi wasn’t sure. The Boss began to move away, calling out over her shoulder, “Veteran Child won’t be a problem any more by the way.” She disappeared through a door, nearly every single eye in Purgatory glued to her back.

Pierce turned to where Gat was lounging back on a couch, the only one who’d taken one look at the Boss and gone back to what he was doing, “What. The. Fuck.”

Johnny looked up, “Hmm?”

“Did you not just see that?”

Gat raised an eyebrow, “I told you exactly what was gonna happen when the Boss left, didn’t I?”

“I thought you were just playin’ with me or some shit! Bitch was fucking soaked in it!”

A dangerous look passed over Gat’s face, raising a knife in his direction. Armed with only a knife, Gat was far more dangerous than almost anyone else with a gun, “I’d watch what you say about the Boss, Pierce. You may be a Saint, but don’t ever fucking disrespect her, or I’ll blow your fucking head off.”

Pierce held up his hands, quickly realising he’d said the wrong thing, “Woah, calm down man, just an expression.”

“Fuckin’ better be.” Gat sat back, going back to spinning his knife through his fingers. He looked over at Shaundi, the dreadlocked woman still staring after the Boss with a strange look on her face that Gat couldn’t quite place, “Yo Shaundi, you good?”

It seemed to snap Shaundi out of a trance, shaking her head and looking over at Gat, “Huh?”

“You good?”

“Yeah… yeah…” Her gaze returned to the door the Boss had walked through, “I’m gonna… I’m…” She never finished the thought, simply standing up and walking out the door the other Saint had strode through.

Gat’s knife froze in his hand, a slight smile on his lips as he realised what that look meant. Or at least, what he was pretty sure it did. He just wondered how the Boss would react. Pierce hadn’t made the same connection, looking between Gat and the door Shaundi had just passed through, “Where’s Shaundi going? The Doc said she was alright, but she’s even spacier than usual.”

“I wouldn’t worry about Shaundi for a bit.” Pierce’s expression made Gat roll his eyes. Kid was so green sometimes, “I ain’t gonna tell you, you figure it out.”

Gat’s reaction only made Pierce even more confused. He sat down on the couch Shaundi had just vacated, picking up the joint the other Lieutenant had left behind. He almost took a drag before seeing the ring of blood around the end, flicking it onto the table. Not something he wanted to try out.

* * *

The Boss opened her private apartment’s doors with a code, locking them behind her. She sighed, leaning back against the door briefly before almost springing back up, “Merde!” She cursed as she sighted the bloody imprint she’d left. Just one more thing to clean. She moved to a table built into the side wall, dumping her bloodied bag on top of it. This particular surface was incredibly easy to clean and the Boss had it put in specifically for this kind of thing. Bloodied weapons, bloodied clothes, anything that needed cleansing of any sort of bodily fluid.

She pulled her knee-high leather boots off, throwing them together with her bag. Her tank-top came next, bra quickly following onto the pile. Her pants slid off, revealing clean pale skin under the tight fabric. At least some of her was free of the red that covered the rest of her. The Boss ran her fingers through her long hair, somehow coming away even more stained. She sighed, moving through the rooms to her bathroom.

The hot water poured over her skin, beginning to wash away the blood. The Boss slowly breathed in, letting the steam fill her lungs, a sense of calm filling her up. She let the water run over her back for several minutes, cleaning the worst of it off before finally starting on her hair. It proved harder than she originally thought, requiring several washes to even start to get rid of it all. Water swirled around her, practically turning her feet invisible with how dark it was.

The Boss turned her face upwards, hot water rolling over her cheeks and flattening her hair down against her back. She slowly rolled her neck out, feeling it crack a few times as the tension was released. As much as she enjoyed what she’d done in the last 24 hours, driving a car for that long in a single day always left her with sore muscles, and she questioned whether it had all been worth it. It didn’t take long for her to decide it had been. She’d do almost anything for any member of the Saints, and Shaundi was most definitely no exception. Veteran Child had gotten exactly what he deserved.

* * *

Shaundi approached the Boss’ apartment, reaching out and trying to open the door. It proved to be locked, no surprise there. She shook the handle a bit, the doors not budging even a tiny bit. She considered calling out for the leader of the Saints, but she was fairly certain there would be no answer. Shaundi moved to the keypad at the side of the door, biting her thumbnail as she wracked her brain for what the code could possibly be. She knew that Gat knew what it was, but that no one else did, not even her or Pierce.

She almost went back to ask Johnny, but he would definitely ask her why she wanted the code and that wasn’t a question she particularly wanted to answer. She herself wasn’t entirely sure of the reason. Or maybe, she really did know. Maybe she’d known for a while and had been unwilling to do anything about it. But she was about to change that.

Shaundi had seen the Boss enter her code a few times, one of the few people the head of the Saints had allowed into her inner sanctum from time to time. Even though Johnny knew what the passcode was, he only came in when the Boss asked him. She thought back to when she’d seen the Boss enter the number before, trying to wrack her brain for the answer. It came in drips and drabs, each piece slowly falling into place.

Each number beeped as she entered it. Shaundi’s finger hovered over what she was fairly certain was the right one, but she wasn’t absolutely sure. She’d never seen the code entered wrong before, wondering what would happen if it was. She breathed in, preparing herself for it. Her finger pushed forward, the last beep sealing her fate.

The door unlocked, one of them swinging in slightly. Shaundi’s lips cracked open with a smile. First try and everything. She quickly moved inside, shutting and locking the door behind her. She hoped no one had seen her enter, but generally at this time of night, any Saint who was still awake was in the main room or sleeping in various places around the crib. None would be near the Boss’ place.

Shaundi turned to look around, eyes drawn to the bloody clothes heaped up on a table to the side. She could hear the shower running at the back, nervousness soon taking over the confident strides she’d made toward the Boss’ apartment when she’d left the main room. What was she doing here? Was she really considering doing what she’d been thinking about ever since the Boss had rescued her from Veteran Child? Hell, she’d been thinking about it for a hell of a lot longer than that. There was something about that woman, something about the way she acted, the way she looked, the sound of her voice. It was intoxicating. And Shaundi wanted more. She wanted it all, and she wanted it from the Boss.

Her resolve hardened, resolute in what she was doing. She wanted this, she _wanted_ the Boss, more than anyone she’d ever met before. None of her past ex’s or lovers had ever provoked this sort of reaction from her. This sheer _need_ to be close to them. This was beyond loyalty to the Saints and their leader. What it was, Shaundi wasn’t certain, but she was damned if she wasn’t going to find out.

The Saint Lieutenant’s clothes ended up in a small pile on the floor near the Boss’ bloodied ones. She pulled the bandana out of her hair, shaking it out slightly, trying to comb the dreadlocks back. She breathed in a few times, readying herself for what came next before confidently striding towards the bathroom. She gently eased the door open as quietly as she could, breath catching in her throat as she took only a single step inside before freezing.

The Boss leant against the wall, hands braced above her, water pouring over her head and naked back. Shaundi couldn’t help her eyes roaming over the Boss’ body, tight with muscle and curvy in all the right places. She hadn’t ever seen the boss in less than full length pants, and at least a tank-top over her chest. It had hidden the full expanse of her skin.

She was covered in tattoos, but not ones that Shaundi had been expecting. The Saints Fleur-de-lis on her neck, everyone knew about. Hell, Shaundi had considered getting one herself. But the Boss’ legs were nearly completely inked up, colourful flowers and vines winding around the muscles. The patterns continued up her body, following the curve of her ass and all the way up her spine, stopping just short of her neck. They seemed at odds with everything Shaundi knew about the Boss, but then again, she was sure there was a lot she didn’t know about the woman.

Her arms had a different feel, a different design, much more in keeping with the image that the Boss projected of herself in public and amongst the Saints. These were always on display for everyone to see. A rendition of the Saint of All Saints on her upper right arm, a near exact replica of the statue that stood at the top of the stairs in Purgatory. Two names on her right forearm, Aisha and Lin, R.I.P. written above them. The tattoos stopped there on that arm, a lot of space for names to be added to that list. It wasn’t something the Boss ever talked about, but adding names served as a reminder to her of what she’d lost and to never repeat those mistakes.

The Boss’ left was comparatively bare, only a small piece on her deltoid. ‘ _6 Down. 1 to go._ ’ Shaundi had heard someone ask the Boss what it meant once, while her and the Saints’ lieutenants were in a bar. The French accented woman had turned to him very calmly, grabbed the back of his head with one hand and whispered something in his ear, while the other buried one of Gat’s knifes to the guard in his chest. Shaundi had made a mental note to never ask what it meant after that. She very much doubted even Gat knew, considering her reaction.

Shaundi silently approached the Boss from behind, realising this was probably the most dangerous direction to come at the Boss from. But she didn’t exactly have another choice, considering what she was doing. She came within a foot of her body, the water spraying onto her front, reflecting off the Boss’ tattooed-back.

The Boss’ purple-haired head rose up, freezing at the sound of someone behind her, every muscle tensing at the sudden invasion of her space. Her mind raced with who the hell could’ve possibly gotten into her private rooms, considering she knew she’d locked the door when she came in. Gat was the only one who knew the code to it, and he wouldn’t come in unless she’d asked him to. And she very rarely asked him to come in when she wasn’t there to let him in.

The Saint spun around, grabbing the intruder by the arm and pushing them against the wall, left forearm to their throat and right fist drawn back to start punching. Her fist hovered in the air, eyes quickly recognising who had come in, “Shaundi?” The Boss took a step back, releasing the Lieutenant from her grasp. Her eyes travelled subconsciously down Shaundi’s body, taking in every curve and felt her mouth go dry at the sight, “What... are you doing here?” She couldn’t speak properly, having to force the words out, “How did you get in?”

Shaundi ignored the second question, moving back close to the other woman, putting her arms around the Boss’ neck and pushing their bodies together. The Boss took steps away until her back hit the wall, Shaundi continuing to move forward. She brought her lips to the Boss’ ear, “I wanted to thank you for rescuing me.” She bit down lightly on the shell of her ear, sending a pleasant shiver down the Boss’ spine.

Shaundi began to bull back, leaving a trail with her lips down the Boss’ neck. The Boss shook her head, grabbing her Lieutenant by the shoulders and pushing her back, staring at her. The almost unrestrained lust in Shaundi’s hazel eyes was definitely new, or maybe she’d just never noticed.

The Boss swallowed, thinking back and trying to place where something had changed. There was a feeling in her lower abdomen that she’d been writing off as a stomach ache for weeks, and now that she actually put some thought into it, it was whenever she looked at Shaundi. Had the dreadlocked woman noticed her looking, and was now taking advantage, or did she actually want something out of this? Did the Boss even want anything out of this?

And why Shaundi? And not the countless other people who had looked at her like that? The Boss could have anyone she wanted, and she often did, but this felt different. This felt real. She had never felt like this before. Maybe Joséphine Denault could have had this feeling at some point, but not the infamous leader of the Saints. Not the Butcher of Stilwater. Not the woman who had just spent several hours torturing a man for daring to attack the Saints. For daring to attack… Shaundi.

She didn’t think she’d ever been more nervous. She hadn’t been in this exact situation before, and trying to figure out what to do was making her head spin, “Why now? I’ve rescued you plenty of times.”

Shaundi half shrugged the Boss’ hands off her shoulders, moving her own to caress her cheeks, and run a thumb over her bottom lip, “Because you want me.” She dared to move a little closer, “Because I want you.” Her hands moved over the Boss’ shoulders to resume their previous position, one hand tangling in the purple hair while the other dug fingers into her back. She searched in the Boss’ green eyes for an answer to the silent question that hovered between them, “And I say we should go for it.”

The Boss didn’t know how to react as Shaundi pressed their lips together. Her hands tensed up at her sides, eyes wide open for a second. They fluttered shut, kissing the young woman back. Shaundi broke the contact after a few moments, opening her eyes to the Boss’ slightly stunned expression. For half a second, she thought the Boss would throw her out right then and there.

A smile exploded over her face, every muscle relaxing, “Oh fuck it.”

The Saints leader’s lips crashed back into Shaundi’s, reaching down with both hands and gripping her thighs, lifting them till Shaundi wrapped her legs around the Boss’ waist. She backed Shaundi up against the wall, hungrily devouring her lips as her hands moved forward to grip her ass. Shaundi groaned against her, tightening her grip in the Boss’ hair and digging her nails into her back.

The Boss’ tongue moved against Shaundi’s lips, running over them and asking for entrance. Shaundi happily granted it, their tongues tangling together briefly before the Boss pulled away and kissed across her jaw, finding her way down her neck and gently biting around her pulse point. Shaundi tilted her head to allow better access, moaning as the Boss sucked at her neck and gripped her ass tighter. She pulled her head back, lightly licking the mark she’d made, grinning as she moved back in to claim Shaundi’s lips once more.

She moved slower this time, softer as Shaundi parted her lips to allow her tongue access. Her grip loosened, allowing Shaundi’s feet to lower to the floor again. She moved her hands to the lieutenant’s smooth hips, lightly massaging with her thumbs just below her hip bones, while the rest of her fingers pressed into her skin.

As one of the Boss’ hands began to slip down and closer to her centre, closer to where Shaundi desperately wanted her to touch, Shaundi surprised herself by grabbing the wandering wrist, moving it up and away from her legs. The Boss broke their lips apart and raised an eyebrow at the sudden interruption, “Uh-uh… not yet.”

“Oh?” The Boss was intrigued.

Shaundi gave a wicked grin, “Plenty we can do before we go there.” The Boss was immediately interested in what Shaundi had in mind, feeling her body respond to the promise. Shaundi moved the wrist in her grip, manoeuvring the Boss’ hand till the ends of her fingers brushed over the tip of her breast. Shaundi let go of the wrist, her eyes slowly shutting as the Boss took the hint.

The tattooed woman leaned forward, her lips pushing into the crook of Shaundi’s neck as she pushed her up against the wall again. Her finger likely flicked over a nipple, a small sound -barely heard over the rushing water of the shower- coming from Shaundi. She teased the younger woman several more times, each little flick a bit harder. The small sounds took proper shape, a breathy utterance as her head rolled back to rest against the wall. The Boss moved her right leg forward, getting in between Shaundi’s and almost pushing up against her core. She stopped moving there, the barest amount of skin touching at the lower end of their bodies.

She ended the teasing, kissing her way down Shaundi’s neck. She moved down further, lightly pressing her lips to a new patch of skin each time, each one getting closer to Shaundi’s chest. Shaundi reached up, winding both hands through the Boss’ purple hair. She’d always loved that colour on the Boss, amazed she was able to keep the deep shade so vibrant and perfect, given how little time the Boss actually spent doing anything that wasn’t directly related to the Saints or sleeping. She had no idea where she even actually _found_ the time for it. And yet, she did, and she was all the more attractive for it.

The Boss stepped back slightly, bending down a little to gain the access she needed. Her right hand palmed Shaundi’s breast, massaging back and forth. Her lips found the other one, kissing around the nipple and causing a shiver through Shaundi’s body. She could see the smirk on the Boss’ lips, gripping her head with both hands and moving her where she wanted her. The Boss took the hint, surrounding the erect tip with her lips, her tongue darting out between them and brushing over it. She sucked on it, Shaundi’s stuttering voice spilling from her, “Y-y-es…” The Boss could feel the grip in her hair become harder, pulling her against Shaundi’s body. She pinched the other nipple between two fingers, rolling it between the digits.

She swapped over, closing her lips around the other while her left hand worked on the free one. The Boss could feel Shaundi quiver from just these small ministrations. It seemed she had the same effect on the Lieutenant that she had on the Boss. Maybe she hadn’t been imagining all those times she’d caught Shaundi’s eyes and seen some sort of affection mirrored back. She could feel the same sort of ache in her stomach, quickly realising it had never been a stomach ache, and was coming from lower than that. She yearned for Shaundi, and she was finally going to fulfil that need.

The Boss gave a final hard suck, letting Shaundi’s nipple out of her mouth with a wet pop. She straightened back up, coming with a hair’s breadth of Shaundi’s lips with her own, hovering there, a questioning look in her eyes. Shaundi strained forward, the Boss matching the movement backwards. She moved to the side, pushing her breasts up against Shaundi’s and whispering in her ear, “We should take this to my bed.”

Shaundi could feel her knees weaken at those seven simple words. She didn’t trust her brain to talk, nodding as soon as the Boss came back into view. The water turned off with a simple twist of a knob, the only sound either of them could hear the pounding of their hearts. The Boss reached down, intertwining her fingers with Shaundi’s, taking a step away while the younger Saint stayed still. She gently pulled, Shaundi finally following along, a little unbelieving that this was actually happening.

Whenever the Boss had brought someone back to her secure apartment, it had only ever been to one of the couches in the first room. The deeper depths were reserved for her and her alone. The only people who had ever been to the upper floor was the construction crew who’d built the place, and they’d been warned rather severely about what would happen if they ever told anyone what was up there. The Boss valued her privacy, needing a space away from the stresses of running the Saints and even from some of the Saints themselves. She would die for all of them, but that didn’t mean they didn’t annoy the shit out of her sometimes.

And then there was Shaundi. The front room’s couches felt incredibly insulting for what she had in mind. The men and women she brought back here were only here for maybe a few hours, before the Boss kicked them out. They were here to fuck, and that was it. Nothing more. But with Shaundi… she wanted more from this encounter. Perhaps for the first time ever, to make love to someone rather than just for the pleasure of the orgasm. An actual connection beyond the physical pleasures of sex. She’d already felt something in their shared shower and she wanted to chase that feeling to the end.

The Boss didn’t bother to dry off with the towels waiting in her bathroom, nor did Shaundi try to get her to. She simple followed where the muscular tattooed arm was leading her. She couldn’t keep her eyes off the Boss’ ass, swaying back and forth in perfect time with her steps. She wanted to reach out and grab it, but restrained herself. She was certain there would be plenty of time for that later.

They both left a trail of water droplets, staining the plush carpet beneath their feet. They started up the stairs, Shaundi’s tongue darting out to lick her lips from the lower angle she now had of the Boss’ ass and what lay between the cheeks. She could see that the older woman was more than ready for whatever came next, the slick surface of her skin having nothing to do with the torrent of water they’d been bathed in. Shaundi had to rein herself in from simply rushing up the stairs and pushing the Boss against a wall so she could taste her. This felt like something she should wait for.

They reached the top of the stairs, the Boss eagerly leading Shaundi through the short hallway and to the door of her bedroom. She had been the only one in the room since its construction, and she was having trouble remembering what sort of state she’d left it in. She wasn’t exactly a messy person, but she didn’t much care for how much clutter or the state she left her bedroom in either. Now she was genuinely worried, but she didn’t think it would actually matter, or at least she hoped it didn’t.

The Boss pushed the door open, her shoulders sagging in relief slightly that it was relatively clean. Her bed was made up, and all her stuff was in its proper place. She turned around, grabbing Shaundi’s other hand and walked backwards toward the bed. She didn’t say a word as the back of her knees hit the bed, sitting down and pulling Shaundi in between her legs. Her hands trailed up Shaundi's thighs, looking up at her through half-closed lashes. She leaned forward, brushing a kiss just above Shaundi’s belly button. Shaundi wound her hands through the dark hair, gripping with the slightest amount of force. Ever so slowly, she moved down, each touch of her lips getting closer to Shaundi’s centre. Just as Shaundi was about to stop her, her course diverted, moving along the line of her hip bone, pausing at the edge and looking up. The Boss tried to look innocent, as if that was possible for the leader of a notorious street gang.

Shaundi let go of the purple locks, pushing on the Boss’ shoulders and making her lie down. The Boss grinned as Shaundi’s knees came up to the bed, climbing over the tattooed woman’s legs and settling down so their hips were nearly perfectly aligned. The Boss reached up, gripping Shaundi’s hips and moving both of them so that they were fully on the bed.

Shaundi settled down fully, letting her weight rest on the Boss. She drank the woman beneath her in, the artful tattoos curving around her body, perfectly framing her breasts and continuing over them. She placed a finger near the Boss’ belly button, following the curve of a particular flower arrangement that covered much of her abdomen. It continued upwards, skirting just around the swell of one of her breasts, teasing the Boss and causing a sharp intake of breath. The Boss made no move to remove her hands from Shaundi’s hips, entranced with what she was doing, only sliding her hands slightly further down to give her better access.

Shaundi was well aware of what she was doing to the Boss, feeling her abs start to constrict under her touch. Having the leader of the Saints under her control was not something she thought she’d ever get used to, but she’d be lying if she wasn’t enjoying this particular position. She raised the hand the wasn’t on the Boss at that moment, raising it up to cup her own breast, watching the Boss’ eyes following her every tiny movement.

The finger moved to the valley between the Boss’ breasts, following a line of ink all the way up between them. It continued up, tracing over her neck and up over her chin. Another of Shaundi’s fingers joined the one, moving across the Boss’ cheek till her thumb rested over her lips. She pulled the bottom lip down, displaying the pearly white teeth before letting it spring bring. The Boss could feel her chest begin to rise as she started breathing more rapidly, her mouth opening and taking the proffered thumb between her teeth. She gently bit down, closing her lips around the digit and sucking ever so slightly.

Shaundi watched the Boss for a few moments, transfixed by the way her lips wrapped around her thumb. The hand on her own breast fell down, completely forgotten. Her thumb was freed, her hand moving to cup the Boss’ cheek. She leaned forward till her face was barely a few inches from the other woman’s, her dreadlocks falling like a curtain around them. She stayed like that for a second, both feeling the other’s breath ghosting over their lips, both slightly open and begging to be united. Shaundi obliged both, closing the distance and turning her head slightly to deepen it once they’d connected.

The Boss’ hands slowly ran up Shaundi’s sides, brushing over the edges of her breasts before wrapping fully around her back. She pulled Shaundi fully against herself, the force completely different from the softness of their interconnected lips. She wasn’t sure who opened up first, but soon their tongues were dancing together, only interrupted by the occasional moan breaking free from either of them.

The hand on the Boss’ cheek moved around to the back of her head, tangling in the purple locks and lifting off the bed. Shaundi gently gripped and pulled, breaking the connection and placing her forehead against the Boss’. They were both breathing hard, both wanting more. Shaundi’s voice sounded small, “Boss… I want you…”

The Boss wasn’t entirely sure why Shaundi said it. She thought she’d made it perfectly clear that she wanted Shaundi, and she’d thought that sentiment had certainly been returned. The uncertainty in Shaundi’s voice sounded almost fearful, as though any second, she might change her mind and kick her out. She had zero intention of doing so. Words came to her lips before she could stop them, “You have me, Shaundi.” She pressed her lips to Shaundi’s briefly before pulling back and whispering something straight into her ear she thought she’d never say to anyone who wasn’t about to die, “ _Call me Joséphine_.”

The name should’ve been nothing to Shaundi. It should’ve just been a word that passed between them. But both the look in the Boss’… no… _Joséphine’s_ eyes and the way she’d said it told her a completely different story. This wasn’t something that anyone knew. Shaundi had never heard this woman referred to by anything except what she was. The Boss of the Saints, the Butcher of Stilwater, or whatever other creative names, insulting or otherwise, were thrown her way. Never by a name. Never _Joséphine_. This was her actual name. The one that had remained a secret ever since she’d appeared in Stilwater years ago. The one that everyone had wondered about, but no one knew. But now, Shaundi knew.

“I want you… _Joséphine_.” The name passing between Shaundi’s plump lips elicited an involuntary groan from Josié herself. Her name had never sounded so good, so alluring, than when it came from this woman on top of her. She wanted to her hear whisper it, hear her moan it, hear her scream it to the sky. And she was damned if she wasn’t going to hear all of it.

The next words that came from Joséphine’s mouth surprised Shaundi, but she instantly took them to heart, “Then take me.”

Shaundi pressed a hard kiss to Joséphine’s lips before fully sitting up, her hands resting on the other woman’s abdomen. The Boss’ hands began to drift up Shaundi’s sides, coming within inches of Shaundi’s breasts. Shaundi stopped their travel, holding them still just below the prize. She pulled them away from her skin, leaning forward and placing them above Joséphine’s head, holding her wrists with both hands. She whispered into Josié’s ear, “Don’t move these until I tell you.”

Joséphine didn’t say a word, only arching an eyebrow slightly before nodding. It was an extremely rare occurrence that she wasn’t in control during sex. She was sure there was some psychosomatic reason for that, but for now she wanted to see what Shaundi was thinking of doing to her.

Shaundi let go of her wrists, leaning back again and waiting till she was sure the Boss would comply to her request. She did, positively vibrating with want beneath her. Her body arched up, trying in vain to reach for Shaundi without actually moving her arms. Shaundi grinned down at her, ready to give in to the thoughts that had been swirling in her head for months.

She bent at the hips, first pressing her lips into the hollow of Joséphine’s throat. She felt the ever so slight rumble of an almost silent moan. She moved down, lips travelling down her neck, and beginning the journey over her chest. She followed the lines of ink, pausing over both nipples to flick with her tongue and close her lips around each briefly. Satisfied with her attention to each, Shaundi moved down, feeling Joséphine’s abs twitch with every touch of her lips. She smiled to herself, passing her belly button, drawing ever close to the ultimate goal. She shifted down the bed, feeling the Boss’ legs try to open, but kept her own on either side of her thighs, preventing her from separating them more than a few inches.

“Shaundi…” Her voice came out through a shuddering breath, “Please…”

Shaundi ignored the plea, her lips coming dangerously close to Joséphine’s small patch of curly hair, only now noting that it was blonde. She’d never seen the Boss with anything but purple hair, guessing this was her natural colour, “Hmm, I guess the carpet doesn’t match the drapes.”

“That’s a terrible-” Joséphine’s voice broke as Shaundi’s lips travelled just below the hair, pressing just barely above where she desperately needed her to, “-joke.” She barely finished the sentence, transfixed by the woman on top of her.

Much to the Boss’ displeasure, Shaundi skipped over her centre, trailing a path with her lips down a muscled thigh. The whimper that escaped her lips only cause Shaundi’s grin to widen, readily aware of the affect she was having on Joséphine. She wanted to draw this out, make it last as long as possible. She wasn’t sure how long the Boss would let it happen before she just tried to force it to get to the next stage, but she hoped Joséphine had the patience. It would all be that much sweeter if she did.

Shaundi was nearly off the bed completely when she reached the Boss’ ankle. To her great surprise, Joséphine stayed with her arms above her head and her legs just barely apart. That was where her patience for Shaundi to hurry up ended. Her chest was positively heaving up and down, her breasts rising and falling as she struggled to maintain the position. Her head was craned up, staring at Shaundi with such an intense gaze, she thought she might melt right then and there.

Shaundi gripped each of Joséphine’s ankles, slowly separating her legs till they were just barely wider than shoulder width apart. She turned her head, running her tongue over a small patch of skin, keeping eye contact with the Boss the whole time. She moved further up, ensuring her legs stayed at relatively the same width apart, alternating between a short lick or a light kiss. Finally, Shaundi reached her thighs, pressing her lips to the inner part of Joséphine’s legs.

She moved ever upwards, feeling the heat radiating from Joséphine’s core, the slick outer reaches begging to be touched. Shaundi settled down onto her stomach, moving the Boss’ legs so they were slung over her shoulders. Joséphine didn’t dare to move them any more than that, clenching her muscles in anticipation of what was to happen next.

Shaundi kissed up Joséphine’s inner thigh, a few inches from the centre. Once more and finally, her lips were barely a breath away. She inhaled through her nose slowly, enjoying the intoxicating scent. She blew out gently through pursed lips, causing a shudder to go through the entirety of Joséphine’s body, feeling the muscles of her legs clench at the feeling. Her tongue came out, licking over her lips, torturing the Boss even further with anticipation.

Shaundi was tempted to just sit there for a minute, teasing Joséphine for just that little bit longer, but thought better of it. She couldn’t deny she wanted this just as much as the woman who’s legs she was currently between. She’d wanted it for a long time, and now was finally that time.

Her lips opened, moving forward at a glacial pace, her tongue slowly sliding between them. She connected with Joséphine’s body, giving a slow, languid swipe with her tongue, finally tasting her for the first time. Joséphine let go of a trembling breath she didn’t know she’d been holding, a moan escaping from her. Through sheer force of will, she kept her hands still above her head, gripping one wrist with her fingers and clenching hard to prevent herself from moving.

Shaundi revelled in the reaction she’d gotten from just one pass of her tongue. She let her tongue pass into the air again, pushing it deeper into Joséphine’s folds and moving even slower up, pausing right over the sensitive bundle of nerves and swirling around it, barely avoiding it by a millimetre. She could feel Joséphine’s head hit the bed as she threw it back, sending a vibration through the bed and almost forcing her tongue to make contact. She withdrew it before it could, waiting till the movement had calmed down somewhat before moving back in.

Shaundi started at the bottom again, this time closing her lips fully around Josié’s clit. She sucked at it hard, moving one of her arms from under herself snaking her way to where her mouth was working. The tip of her finger slowly moved over the outer reaches of the Boss’ centre, coating it to nearly her first knuckle. Shaundi pulled back, waiting till Joséphine met her eyes before slowly sucking the digit into her mouth, making a show of licking it clean.

She raised a questioning eyebrow, waiting for permission to continue. Something in Joséphine’s eyes had given her pause, as though something was lurking beneath the surface, a distant memory, and certainly not a good one. Shaundi was trying to give her the exact opposite, trying to make this woman feel as good as possible, as desired, as wanted, as _needed_ , as she possibly could. The look in Josié’s eyes told her that being this vulnerable with someone was an almost completely new feeling. Or maybe it was the act of allowing herself to be vulnerable, rather than being forced into vulnerability. Shaundi could never bring herself to do anything to the Boss that she herself didn’t want, even if Shaundi might have desperately wanted to. She could never hurt this woman.

Joséphine stared into Shaundi’s eyes, realising that this young woman could see right through her, see through to the pain beneath her hard exterior. Shaundi wouldn’t do anything she didn’t want her to. She hadn’t allowed anyone to put her in this sort of position for more than eight years, to be completely at someone’s mercy. She’d sworn to herself that she would never be in a position like this again, but maybe it was time. Time for a different feeling. Time to let herself be in someone else’s control, someone she actually wanted to be controlled by.

The leader of the Saints gave a nod, untangling her fingers and lowering one arm till the hand lightly ghosted over Shaundi’s cheek while her other reached back and fisting tightly into the sheets above her. Shaundi made no comment on the fact that Joséphine had moved her arms before being told to. This wasn’t a time for that sort of talk.

Shaundi pressed her face to Joséphine’s core once more, pushing her tongue deeper with every stroke. The Boss’ fingers tangled in the hair on top of her head, moaning as she tried to push Shaundi deeper. She moved upwards, moving her fingers to stroke at the outer lips of Josié’s centre. She gave one last questioning look upwards, still working with her mouth all the while.

Joséphine stammered out only one word, “Ye-e-es.”

Shaundi pushed one finger inside, feeling the heat and wetness of the Boss’ body immediately. Her inner walls immediately clenched at the intrusion, her moans coming out louder than before. Shaundi withdrew the finger back till only the tip was still inside before pushing all the way back in. Her tongue continued to lap at Josié while she found a steady rhythm with her hand. She felt Joséphine’s fingers tighten in her dreadlocks, trying to pull her face even closer. Shaundi obliged as best she could, feeling the juices begin to coat all around her mouth and run down her finger.

“Mo-o-o-re.”

Shaundi momentarily stopped her tongue’s ministrations, grinning to herself, “You want more, Josié?”

How Shaundi knew the shortening of her name would get the Boss going, she’d never know, but she was ecstatic that it did, “Yes… please, Shaundi.” She moved the hand on Shaundi’s head to join her other, gripping the sheets above her tightly.

“Your wish is my command.” Shaundi withdrew her finger completely, licking it clean before straightening her pointer and middle finger next to each other, circling around Joséphine’s entrance a few times. The Boss raised her hips off the bed, trying to get Shaundi to fill her up again. Shaundi obliged, driving both fingers into the opening with almost reckless abandon. Her thrusting was harder this time, bending her knuckles so her palm covered the rest of Joséphine’s lower regions, rubbing her clit at the same time with the base of her hand. She curled her fingers inside the Boss, a guttural groan quickly turning into a silent cry to the heavens.

“More…”

Shaundi wasted no time, her ring finger swiftly joining the other two. She shifted Josié’s legs off her shoulders, moving up the bed, but still keeping her fingers pumping away at a steady, rapid pace. Joséphine didn’t even notice what she was doing till her face hovered mere inches away from Josié’s own, the look of both lust and adoration in her eyes almost more than the Boss could take.

Joséphine’s hands came away from the sheets, grabbing Shaundi’s face and pulling her down into a rough kiss. She could taste herself on Shaundi’s lips, on Shaundi’s tongue. Shaundi didn’t stop her hand even for a second, somehow focusing attention on thrusting her fingers in and out of Josié with a pace that was making it hard to think straight while still kissing her with a fiery want. Josié’s body arched up towards Shaundi’s, trying to pull her down with the fingers buried in her hair at the same time.

Shaundi’s free hand moved under Joséphine’s body, clutching at her back and pulling her flush against her chest. Their kiss broke, foreheads leaning against each other, both breathing hard with the Boss unable to contain the moans spilling from her throat.

“Shaun-di...” Joséphine could barely get words out, “I’m close...”

Shaundi moved her lips to Josié’s neck, kissing up to her ear, licking the outer edge of it, Josié’s arms moving so that one clutched around Shaundi’s shoulders and the other tangled in her hair, “Let go, I've got you.”

Those simple words threw Joséphine over the edge, stars exploding over her vision as she threw her head back. Her entire body convulsed as the waves of pleasure rocked through her, every muscle contracting at the feeling. Her body fell slack in Shaundi’s arms, gently lowered back to the bed. She could feel the thin sheen of sweat over her entire body, her breathing still uneven as she rode out the aftershocks.

Shaundi slowed the thrusting of her fingers, a final few strokes before pulling out completely. Josié felt almost empty now, but the smile that broke across her face told Shaundi all she needed to know about how the Boss really felt. Her eyes opened, seeing Shaundi staring down at her, a satisfied grin on both their lips. Her hands travelled slowly down Shaundi’s body till they gripped at her hips, digging into the soft skin.

“Your turn.” Joséphine’s breathy utterance caused a buck of Shaundi’s hips against her. She could feel the young woman was ready, the heat radiating from her almost unbearable. She gripped her hips a little harder, trying to pull her upwards. Shaundi hesitated for a second before realising what Joséphine wanted her to do. She sat up, straddling over the Boss’ hips before beginning to slowly move upwards. Josié’s eyes travelled down her body, briefly focusing on her bouncing breasts, before moving lower.

Joséphine’s hands travelled over Shaundi’s back, gripping her ass and squeezing a cheek in each hand. She hovered over the Boss’ chest, waiting for her to make the next move. Josié looked up at her, locking eyes with her and slipped her hands further around her ass, fingers running down the centre. She grinned as Shaundi’s eyelids fluttered at the movement. She pulled on her, almost making Shaundi fall forward before she regained her balance.

Shaundi edged forward till she was hovering almost directly over the Boss’ waiting lips. She saw Joséphine’s tongue come out to lick over her full lips, leaving a shiny sheen. Josié’s eyes flicked from Shaundi’s almost dripping core up to her eyes, enjoying the undisguised lust and anticipation shining in the Lieutenant’s eyes. Josié squeezed once more, Shaundi ever so slowly lowering herself down, bracing her hands on the headboard in front of her.

The moment Joséphine’s tongue came into contact, Shaundi released a trembling moan, her skill immediately apparent. She dove deep straight away, tasting Shaundi to the fullest extent she could reach. She could feel her inner walls clench around her tongue, only increasing her desire to make Shaundi reach her release just as she’d done for the Boss. Her tongue came out, circling the sensitive bundle of nerves before lavishing it with attention, flicking it and sucking hard.

“Joséphine…” Shaundi whispered out the name, the Boss almost breaking away in satisfaction but continued her work.

Shaundi’s legs trembled as Josié continued to ravish her, more of her weight pressing down on to the bed and by extension, Joséphine’s face. The Boss didn’t seem to mind at all, if anything she redoubled her efforts, moving away from her clit and plunging her tongue back into the wetness again. She could feel her reach even deeper than before, moving over the inner walls and finding every point that made Shaundi’s whole body quake with pleasure. Joséphine gripped her ass even harder, pulling her down even more fully onto her face. Her nose brushed over her clit, rotating side to side ever so slightly to both hit the button and move her tongue within to different places.

Joséphine began to massage Shaundi’s ass with her fingers, working the muscles till they were like putty beneath her hands. She slid her hands down, pinkie fingers just ghosting over the edges of Shaundi’s lower lips. She shifted her forearms under Shaundi’s thighs, lifting her up and holding, managing to get her hands to the side she needed them to be. Her face pulled away, head resting back down on the bed as her tongue withdrew. Four fingers on either side spread Shaundi’s most secret place out before her, dripping with want just for her. Joséphine leisurely ran her tongue over every inch of the outer reaches, lapping up any juices before they could fall onto her face or anywhere else. She could feel shudders move through Shaundi’s body with every stroke, issuing forth from exactly the points where her tongue had just been.

Holding Shaundi spread before her, Josié circled her entrance with one finger, feeling the surface quiver beneath her touch. She dipped the digit in to the first knuckle, pulling it back out almost immediately. She repeated the action several times, teasing out quiet moans from Shaundi herself.

Shaundi wanted to grab the Boss’ fingers and force her to fuck her with them as hard as she possibly could. But she held back, Josié’s teasing drawing out the build-up that she could feel begin to coil deep within herself. She knew that Joséphine would know exactly when to let her spill over the edge, relishing in the escalation of pleasure she was managing to produce.

Joséphine pushed her finger a little deeper, releasing her hold over Shaundi. She slid it in and out, gradually moving deeper. She curled it, finding a spot that made Shaundi gasp in just the right way, hitting it again.

“Fuck me... Joséphine...” Shaundi moaned out. Josié grinned to herself, only getting her to scream her name was left.

She added another finger, finding the same spot again, separating her fingers a little and spreading Shaundi out slightly. One of Shaundi’s hands left the headboard, moving to tangle in Joséphine’s hair that was spread out over the sheets. The wood of the headboard creaked under her other hand’s grip, Shaundi leaning forward with a shuddering breath.

Under Shaundi’s insistent hand, Joséphine used her free hand to force her to settle back down on her face again, closing her lips around Shaundi’s bud. The angle made it hard to get as much force with her penetrating fingers, but Shaundi didn’t seem to mind. Her hand gripped the back of the Boss’ head, holding her hard up against her. Joséphine managed to manoeuvre her hand to bring the fingers inside Shaundi up to three. Shaundi’s grip loosened as Josié’s fingers worked in the small range she was able to move them, her eyes rolling back into her head from the stimulation of both the Boss’ fingers and mouth.

Joséphine pulled away, breathing hard as her head fell back to the bed. Shaundi’s hand untangled from her hair, falling to the bed to support her weight. Ever so slowly, Josié pulled her fingers out, Shaundi whining slightly at the sudden emptiness. She looked down at Joséphine, the woman gazing into her eyes and slowly inserting each finger into her mouth, licking off everything that Shaundi had left behind on them. She slid backwards on the bed, sitting up until Shaundi was properly straddling her thighs.

Her fingers found their place again, pushing inside Shaundi while her thumb circled the sensitive nub above. Shaundi gasped out, arms folding around Joséphine’s shoulders and pulling her face against her breast. Josié’s lips found a nipple, gently biting it while her free hand gripped Shaundi’s ass and squeezed. Shaundi was having significant trouble staying upright, only the Boss’ solid hold on her keeping her from toppling straight over. Her whole body felt like it was on fire and completely out of her control.

“Joséphine, please…” Shaundi’s moans only caused her to speed up the motion of her hand, curling her fingers inside Shaundi and somehow finding places she hadn’t gotten too yet, overloading Shaundi’s senses.

Joséphine released the nipple from her mouth, leaning her head back and waiting till Shaundi finally noticed before surging forward and claiming her lips with animalistic hunger. Their tongues tangled together again, Shaundi moving her hands to clutch at both the Boss’ cheeks. Their kiss broke, Josié not stopping her hand for even a second. Their lips were barely a millimetre apart, breaths intermingling.

“Scream for me.” Joséphine kissed across Shaundi’s jaw, biting her neck, “I want to hear my name.”

Shaundi fisted a hand into the purple hair while the other clutched at Josié’s back, “José-” Her voice was only a little louder, cut off by a press of Joséphine’s lips.

“Louder.” She slowed her hand, using more force every time she drove her fingers into Shaundi.

Shaundi could feel herself start to unravel, the feeling building up in her core. Her fingers dug into Joséphine’ back, body quaking with every movement of her skilful digits, “Fuck, I’m…” Joséphine picked up speed again, the same intensity only driving Shaundi to the edge even faster, “Josié… I’m… gonna…” She threw her head back, screaming to the roof, “JOSEPHINE!”

Joséphine felt Shaundi clench around her fingers, her inner walls squeezing with an almost iron force. Her entire body convulsed in her hands, the Boss riding it out with her while still thrusting her fingers in hard. The orgasm wracked through Shaundi’s body, turning it to jelly. Josié could feel her begin to come down from it, slowing her fingers till they weren’t moving at all, Shaundi’s body slumping forward against her.

Joséphine wrapped her arms around Shaundi’s back, slowly lowering them both till her back hit the sheets. She reached up, pulling one of her pillows down before returning her arm to encircle Shaundi. Shaundi’s head rested on the Boss’ chest, her ear pressed into the centre where she could hear Joséphine’s still racing heart, beating just as fast as her own.

They lay there for several minutes, both of their hearts and breathing finally slowing back to normal. Shaundi moved her arms, placing her hands either side of Joséphine’s pillow. She stared down at Josié’s grinning face, the enormity of the situation she found herself in dawning on her for the first time.

She’d just had sex with the Boss. The head of the Third Street Saints, and probably one of, if not _the,_ most dangerous person in Stilwater. And she’d initiated this encounter, surprising herself. While she wasn’t against starting anything with anyone, usually people came to her. There was something about Joséphine that drew people to her, and Shaundi had definitely fell into that category. Despite what she did for a living, despite the fact that she was a violent criminal, people couldn’t help but follow her. Shaundi was no law-abiding citizen by any stretch of the word, but she was nothing compared to the woman beneath her. She knew that what the Boss had done should’ve driven her away, but it only made her all the more attracted to her if she was honest.

Shaundi felt something for Joséphine that she had never felt for anyone else before, something real, beyond the physical. She sincerely hoped that the Boss felt the same way, but only time would tell that. She wasn’t willing to put a name to it yet, scared to name exactly what this was. But she’d see it through, no matter what.

Shaundi leant down, pressing her lips to Joséphine’s ever so lightly. She broke it, rolling off to the side, the Boss moving so they were looking at each other across the same pillow. Josié trailed her hand over Shaundi’s hip, delighting in the way it caused her breath to hitch slightly.

“So…” Joséphine’s voice sounded small, even to her, “How’d I do?”

Shaundi stared at her for a few moments before bursting into laughter, “How’d you do?” She had to think about the question for a second, “I’d say top five.”

A dark look crossed over Joséphine’s face, but her eyes told Shaundi she wasn’t actually angry, “Top five?” She spluttered out, “Come on, I’ve gotta be better than that.”

Shaundi smirked at the mock-distress on Josié’s face, “Well, you’ve only had one chance. Pretty good for a first try to crack the top five.”

Joséphine raised an eyebrow, moving closer till her nose was barely a hair’s breadth from Shaundi’s, her voice falling to a whisper, “I guess I’ll just have to try harder in round two then…” She searched Shaundi’s eyes for a moment before tilting her head, sealing their lips together and straddling over Shaundi’s waist.

Shaundi laughed into this kiss, sighing as Josié moved down her neck, “Oh, there’s a round two is there?” She could feel the anticipation build up throughout her body.

Joséphine rose up, smiling down at Shaundi, her hair creating a curtain that blocked Shaundi’s view of everything else, “We’re just getting started.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


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